How did this happen?
by wolfprincess45
Summary: Mika and Zack have always been friends and she has always loved him. When she's ready to tell him how she feels, she discovers that he loves her cousin. Can she get through this by herself or can Cloud help her? ZackxCloudxoc
1. Summery and Authors Note

Summery-

Zack and Mika always got into trouble the first chance they could get. They constantly played pranks on their mentors and were constantly getting in trouble. On their day off Mika invites Zack to come with her to visit her cousin, Aerith. Aerith is like a sister to Mika and they have always gotten along. After their visit, Zack starts to spend a little less time with Mika and a little more time with Aerith. Mika finally gets the courage to tell Zack how she feels and decides to confront him. Before she could tell him, Zack tells her that he loves her cousin. Now Mika must live with this decision, even if it means watching her cousin be with the man she loves. The question is can she really handle it or will things just head downhill from there?

Name (first)- Mika

Age- 

Starts off 19 and ends at 24. Zack is the same age.

Looks- 

5'5, shoulder length black hair and violet eyes. Perfect body and well built. Wears purple tank top, black gloves that end at the elbow, black camouflage pants, and combat boots. Dark purple belt with chain running through it and weapon attached to belt. Has 3 earrings in the left ear and 4 in the right. Earrings are blue studs, purple paw prints, red and white fangs, and a black rose (see weapons). Has a tattoo of a white rose with blood dripping from it on her lower stomach.

Personality- 

Tomboy, random, aggressive.

Likes- 

Zack, pulling pranks, anything with sugar, rainy days, broken glass.

Dislikes- 

Spicy food, getting caught pulling pranks,

Colors- 

Mostly purple.

Family- 

Aerith is her only family

Pets- 

Baby snow tiger with blue eyes and black wolf pup with blue eyes. Both can somehow use materia to cast small spells.

Weapon-

Small rod about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. There is a hole in the bottom with small chain running through it. It's black with a purple vines and red rose pattern on it. It's infused with materia giving it the power to change size and shape. It can be broken up into pieces for so she can use two weapons at once. Most used forms are cannon, guns, pole, sword, knives, and metal fans. As long as she has a small part of it she can never lose it and parts thrown or lost can be found. To make sure she doesn't lose it she had a small piece made into a earring in the shape of a black rose.

Past-

Mika and Zack have always been the best of friends since they were five. As they got older so did their friendship. She fell in love with him at age fifth teen but never told him. As the years passed, her love for Zack grew and grew. They both joined Soldier together at age eight teen and they never stopped being friends. However, Mika never found the courage to tell Zack how she felt.

**This starts off in Crisis Core and ends sometime after the movie. In this story Zack and Aerith don't die. Also their will be girls in this story that are in shoulder. Now I need help coming up with a last name because I have three ideas but I'm not sure witch to use. Her first name (Mika) means New Moon. Please let me know which name you like best for her last name. I came up with the last names Tsukiko (Child of the Moon), Yuki (Snow), and Ai (Love). Send me a message or leave a review about which name you like best.**

**I know I haven't updated any of my stories for a while and I am sorry. Some I have writers block and some are just on pause. My Naruto and Axel stories are on pause. My Leon/Squall story has a writers block. I'm mostly writing this for my friends birthday. She loves Zack and Cloud but hates Aerith. I will continue with my stories but I might update this more often because this story is a birthday present for my friend. Also I know I gave Mika a different last name from Aerith's and it will stay that way. I will update as soon as possible.**


	2. The Beggining

I decided not to give Mika a baby tiger but she will keep the baby wolf. Story start

Dear cousin Mika,

It feels like we haven't seen each other in a long time. How have you been ? how are your new little pets? Did you come up with names for them yet? It's been about a week since you got them so they really need names. I hope your not getting in too much trouble with your mentor. From what you told me in your last letter it seems like you not getting along at all. I told you painting his room hot pink would be a very bad idea. I'm sorry to say but when you told me that he made you bark like a dog every time someone said your name, I couldn't help but laugh. You really deserved that punishment though. How about on your next day off me and you spend the day together? I know your in Solider so I can understand if your very busy and cant come. Why don't you bring that friend of yours, Zack was it? I would really like to meet him, since you talk about him a lot. We could also talk about that guy you like. Maybe I can help you find a way to tell him how you feel. After all, were like sisters aren't we? I hope I can see you again soon!

Sincerely,

Aerith.

Of course, I forgot that Aerith would have been writing me a letter this week. Maybe I'll surprise her by going to visit on my week off. It's about time that I got a week off. I never even got a whole day off, just the morning or afternoon. I guess my dear old mentor Sephiroth finally decided I deserved one. Although I had to threaten to kill myself since he wouldn't agree at first. Well, at least I'm getting some time off for a while. I looked back over the letter smiling. It has been a long time since I've seen her. I haven't seen her since I joined Solider. It's been one whole year with nothing but a few letters to Aerith. It would be easier if she got a cell phone or at least if she moved out of the slums. No matter how many times I offer to buy her a house she always says she cant part from her flowers. Hell, I would get her a nice small house with a giant flower garden if she wanted. Wait a second, I could do that. Why didn't I think of this before? Now where did I put my secret stash of money? A black gloved hand came crashing down in front of my face and onto my desk. It picked up my letter from Aerith and quickly read through it.

"Are you really going to see your cousin on your week off?" said Zack.

"I'm not sure yet Zack, and would it kill you to knock?" I said while taking the letter back.

"I never had to knock before. Why now all of sudden?" he asked while taking the letter back.

"It's not all of a sudden. I told you about this last week." I said while lightly hitting him on the arm.

"So? We always walked into each others rooms without knocking before." He said while taking the letter back to read it again.

"Well I never walked into your room after you just got out of the shower dripping wet and in nothing but a small towel." I said while taking the letter away from him again.

"What are you talking about? You did that to me just last week."

Ok I did walk in on him once. He just laughed and acted like nothing was wrong. He continued to dry off and change while I was there, like it was the most natural thing in the world. If Angeal hadn't have saw me standing there I would have passed out. Of course Angeal had to take me to a doctor, he said that my nose was bleeding. When Zack found out he laughed and laughed thinking I probably ran into something.

"….Mika, Mika are you still there?" Zack yelled into my ear. Startled I feel out of the chair backwards. Right before I hit the floor he caught me and helped me back up. 

"Are you ok Mika? I've been saying your name for the past few minutes." He walked over to my bed and sat down.

"Yea, I'm fine. I was just thinking. "

"About what?"

"Things you don't need to know about."

"Oh really?"

Zack then tackled me to the ground and started tickling me.

"Z-Zack! S-Stop it!"

"Never!" he continued to tickle me until I pulled his hair. He let out a yelp and I took that chance to jump on him. I held his arms behind his back while I sat on his back.

"Get off!"

"Never!" I put both of his wrist in one hand and stuck a finger in my mouth. Zack saw what I was going to do.

"No! Don't do it! I'm sorry!"

"Too late!"

Right as I was about to stick my finger in his ear Sephiroth walked in. he stared at us and in turn we just started at him.

"Am I interrupting?"

"No Sephy." I quickly got off Zack and we both stood at attention.

"Why do you always insist on calling me that?"

"Because I enjoy that name." I smirked while he continued to stare at me. He turned and walked away. As he was walking I ran up and jumped on his back.

"What do you think your doing?"

"Can I go now? I promise I'll behave near my cousin? Plesssssssssssssssse?"

"Alright alright! Zack you going with her to keep her out of trouble. Now get off!" I jumped off Sephiroth's back and started running around in circles.

"Calm down Mika!" Zack started laughing as I continued to run around. I stopped when Sephiroth tripped me.

"Ow… what was that for?" I sat up holding my head.

"Stay out of trouble." With that he turned and walked away.

"Alright Mika. I have to get a few things finished then I'll meet you there."

"Ok." I wrote down the directions to where Aerith lived. "This is it. Don't be long."

With that I ran off as fast as I could. Before I knew it I was by my motorcycle. I put on the helmet and speed off. I was at Aerith's place in practically no time flat since I used haste materia. As I pulled up to the church I kicked open the door

"Aerith baby I'm home!"

Aerith quickly turned around and stared as if I lost my mind which it probably looked like I did since I kicked open the door.

"Did you have to do that?"

"You know I love making a entry. "

"Well then now that you're here lets chat." She sat on one of the pews. And motioned for me to sit next to her.

"So where's you crush?"

"He'll be here."

"Ah so can you at least tell me his name?"

"His name is Zack Fair"

"Your childhood friend Zack Fair?"

"That's the one."


	3. Me? Jealous?

**New chapter at last! sorry i havent updated in like EVER. school's almost over so i'll have more time to update. Also i messed up at the end of the last chapter. i didnt mean for Aerith to already know who Mika likes. IJust pretend Aerith doesnt know who it is for now. if anyone get's confused about why Aerith says she doesnt know who it is i'm sorry. I'll fix that ASAP. Enjoy!**

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"So who's this guy you got a crush on?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a secret." I said as I sat down next to Aerith on one of the old pews.

"How so?"

"Well if I told you who it was, there would be the slight chance you tell him that I like him."

"True enough," said Aerith as she leaned back into the pew.

Just then the doors to the church flew open once again. One of the doors flew off it's hindges and landed in Aerith's flowers but she was to distracted by the person standing in the doorway.

"Look out people, sexy is finially back!" said Zack as he walked towards Aerith and I.

"Dude you just kicked down the door to say that!" I yelled as he walked up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Well I like to make an entrance." Zack said as his back was toward Aerith.

I looked over his shoulder to see Aerith staring at Zack. Her face looked like it was in deep thought. There was something in her eyes that I could'nt quite place... but I instintly didn't like it.

"Well in your entrance you crushed my cousin's flowers. She's standing right behind you by the way."

Zack turned to look at the flowers that were growing in the middle of the church. Sure enough the door Zack kicked open was laying in the middle of the flower bed.

"Oh man I'm really-" he started to say as he turned to look at Aerith. Once he saw he he just stopped and didn't move. They looked as though they both knew something but just couldn't say it. The way they stared at each other really made me uncomfortable. I almost felt like a third wheel. The kind that gets really jealous. Wait a minute, I'm jealous? I've never been jealous of anyone in my entire life... but for some reason I felt jealous of the way Aerith and Zack stared at each other. The tension between them was almost unbearable. I pulled on Zack's ear to break his trance.

"You're really what?"

"Ow! I'm really sorry I crushed your flowers!"

"I-it's alright..." said Aerith as she turned away blushing, "No harm done."

Zack looked back over at Aerith as she looked away. Once again he had that look on his face. It irritated me that my cousin was getting stared at the whole time. I dragged him away towards the door while carefully avoiding the flowers.

"Now that you've apologized," I said letting go of his ear. "move the door so they wont damage the flowers too much. Then reattach it to it's hindges."

Zack took a second to rub his ear before he picked up the door careful not to damage any of the flowers. As he carefully made his way out of the flower bed he kept glancing back at Aerith. She in turn continued to stare at him with a small smile on her face. As Zack made his way out of the flowers, he noticed Aerith staring at him and gave her a little smile back. As Zack walked back toward the entrence they didnt take their eyes off of each other the entire time.

I couldn't help but fell somewhat angry. Zack never looked at any girl like that. Most girls give him that look but he ignores it. Some think i'm his girlfriend because we spend most of our time together. I couldn't believe it. Me, one of the few girls who actully made it... was jealous. To top it off I was jealous of some look and a couple of smiles that my best friend gave my cousin. They probabily meant nothing. But if they did, why hasn't Zack ever looked at me like that? Why Aerith? I've known him since we were kids. He's only known her for two minutes!

"What's his name?" whispered Aerith while she was still watching Zack as he fixed the door.

"His name is Zack. Zack Fair."

"Zack Fair..." she got this almost dreamy look in her eyes.

I didn't want to make a scene in front of my cousin, but the way she stared at him irritated me. As if on cue Zack had finished with the door and came skipping back towards us with that stupid grin on his face. He stopped in front of me but his attention was once again on Aerith.

"So, your Mika's cousin?"

"Yes. I'm Aerith. Nice to meet you Zack." said Aerith as she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too." said Zack. They hadn't let go of each other's hands.

That had done it. I was going to snap at the both of them when my phone rang. The loud ringtone broke through the tension in the room. Zack and Aerith stepped awasy from each other. Zack held his hands over his ears.

"Wow Mika! Could your ringtone be any louder?"

"I wish it could. It makes for a great alarm clock though." I said as I took out my phone. I was glad that my loud ringtone managed to break them up.

"It's a text from Angeal." I said as I opened my phone.

"What does it say?" asked Zack.

"He wants us to come back. They need our help. Says we got a few unexpected missions."

"Wonderful... on out our day off."

"Your daay off. My week off." I said smirking at Zack.

"Well I guess i'll be seeing you some other time then." said Aerith. She stepped up and gave my a quick hug then quickly let go. Something that clearly wasn't normal for her.

"Goodbye Aerith. I'll come back soon." I said. As she let me go She automatically turned to Zack.

"Goodbye Zack. I hope we can meet again some time."

"Sure. I'd love to." said Zack with the grin on his face again. I didnt know how much longer I was going to deal with this.

"I'll meet you back at HQ." I said as I walkded out the church.

"Yeah meet you there in a few minutes." said Zack. He hadn't taken his eyes off Aerith the whole time.

When I exited the church I saw Zack's motorcycle sitting next to mine. I looked back over my shoulder into the church. Zack was still inside talking to Aerith. I climbed onto mine and took off not sure how much more I could take of seeing them like that.

As I drove away the images of the way Zack and Aerith looked at each other wouldn't leave my head. It actully hurt to see them like that. Zack didn't know that I liked him. Hell I might even love the guy but I might never be able to tell him. Other then our three wonderful mentors, no one knew how much I liked Zack. I knew they were starting to drop the smallest hints now and then but Zack hadn't gotten the message.

I hated to admit it, but I was actully jealous of Aerith for once. Growing up I always got more attention then she did. Even then the only attention I wanted was from Zack. I never believed in love at first sight but for Zack, it was different.

I hoped that those looks they gave each other meant nothing. But then again I could never be too sure. I felt something wet slide down my cheek. I thought it was the rain at first but, only my cheeks were wet. They were tears. I was crying. I wiped them away only to have them come back a moment later.

Me, Mika... was jealous?

I couldn't believe that I was getting so worked up about nothing. If only I could see into the future so I would know how wrong I was...

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**You can tell where this is going. Looks like Zack and Aerith discovered love at first sight. Next we'll have a 5 day time skip with a conversation with Angeal about Mika, Zack and Mika have a small talk with a 4 day time skip, then Mika discovers what she was afraid of the most. How will she handle it? stay tuned and find out.**


	4. Truth Hurts

**Hello everyone. I'm trying to speed this up a bit because it would take to long for me to come up with a lot of filler space. This chapter will have just 2 time skips. Zack gets a talk from Angeal. Mika gets a talk from Zack. Then something important happens. For those who still dont understand the setting it starts in Crises Core and ends in Advant Children. I'm going to have parts from Dirge of Cerberus in here but none from the original game. Enjoy!**

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**Ooo Zack's Pov (4 days later) ooO**

"Zack, I need to talk to you for a bit." said Angeal as he leaned against my doorframe.

"Um... Sure. What's this about?" I asked. Angeal came over and sat in a chair next to the desk in my room and turned it toward me.

"We just need to talk." He looked at me with a serious expression. Everytime he looked at me like that I couldn't help but feel nervous.

"If this is about the green food coloring in your shampoo bottle, then I have no idea how that happened." I said quickly.

"Then how did you know it was in my shampoo bottle and someone didn't put it on my towel or spray it on my hair while I was asleep?" he said with the serious expression still on his face.

Damn. Angeal 3,624. Me 0.

"Ok you got me there. So what is it?"

"Have you noticed Mika lately?" he asked.

"No, is something wrong?" I asked. Normally when someone asked a question like that it meant something bad must have happened.

"Nothing bad happened if that what your thinking." he said quickly noticing the look on my face. "I just want to know i you've noticed her lately."

"What are you talking about? I notice her every day."

"No I mean have you been noticing her these past few days?" he asked.

"No. She's been fine the times I saw her. Why?" I asked not liking where this is going.

"Well Zack you tell me. I've been keeping an eye on her lately and so have the others. Ever since the two of you came back from visting her cousin you've been spending less and less time with her and more time somewhere else." he said.

"So what's your point?" I asked wishing he'd get to the point already.

"Where have you been going lately Zack?" said Angeal.

I snapped my head around to look at him. How could he have known? I've been so careful to make sure no one saw me leave and go. I even went so far to pay the guy in the security room to erase the footage of me leaving. There's no way he could have seen me.

"Nowhere. I haven't been anywhere. Why do you ask?" I'm sure he must have been able to tell I was lying because his expresion didn't change.

"No reason. I was just asking."

Angeal stood up and walked over to the door while shaking his head. as he opened the door he stopped and stood there for a few seconds.

"Be careful Zack. You'll never know how good you got it until it's gone." With that he walked out the door and shut the door behind him.

I laid back down on my bed and stared on the ceiling. I tried to think about what Angeal said and what it had to do with Mika but it didn't make sense. Why would Mika leave? We've always been the best of friends. And what did he mean by noticing her? I admit we haven't been seeing each other as much since I met Aerith but I haven't been noticing her acting any different. I sat up and put my shoes on. If I didn't leave soon I was going to miss my date.

**Ooo Mika's pov (a few hours later) ooO**

I layed down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Khristof was laying on my chest asleep. It took my about a month since I've had him to come up with a name. It's not the best but it was the only thing I could come up with. Things have been different since Zack had come back from seeing Aerith to do the mission. It's only been about four days since then but it feels like a couple of months have gone by. I absently started to pet Khristof while thinking about how Aerith and Zack stared st each other. It made me wonder what happened after I left. Since hen Zack has been dissapearing at least six times a day. Angeal said he was going to check the security camaras to see where he's been going. I haven't heard from him since.

Khristof stood up stretched and yawned into my face giving me a big wiff of his breath. He began to lick my face then barked, chased his tail then sat down on my chest again. He repeated this about three times. His normal routine he does when he's hungry. I picked him up and carried him to the kitchen. I took a few peices of steak that I had already cut up and put them in the microwave to warm them up. Khristof started to paw at my leg. I got his small bowl and set it on the floor. The mircowave stopped and I took the cut up steak out. I put them in his bowl and he jumped on them. I walked back to my bed and layed down. I pulled out my ipod and scrolled through my playlist. I picked a random song, closed my eyes, and began to sing. (E.T.- Katy Perry)

_Your, so, hypotizing_

_Could you be the devil?_

_Could you be an angel?_

_Your, touch, magnitizing._

_Feel's like i am floating_

_Leave's my body glowing._

_They, say, be afraid_

_Your not like the others_

_Futuristic lovers._

_Different, DNA_

_They don't understand you._

I didnt notice the door open and someone slip in. They closed the door quitely behind them and leaned against it watching me.

_Your from a whole other world,_

_A different demension,_

_You open my eyes,_

_And i'm ready to go_

_Lead me into the light_

The figure silently moved to sit at the table in my room without taking their eyes off me.

_Kiss me, Ki-ki-kiss me_

_Infect me with your lovin_

_Fill me with your posion._

_Take me, Ta-ta-take me_

_Wanna be a victum_

_Ready for abduction._

_Boy, your a alien,_

_Your touch so foreign,_

_It's supernatural,_

_Extra Terrestrial_

The figure braced himself against the wall, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

_You're, so, supersonic_

_Wanna feel your powers_

_Stun me with your lasers_

_Your, kiss, is cosmic_

_Every move is magic,_

_Your from a whole other world,_

_A different demension,_

_You open my eyes,_

_And i'm ready to go_

_Lead me into the light_

_Kiss me, Ki-ki-kiss me_

_Infect me with your lovin_

_Fill me with your posion._

_Take me, Ta-ta-take me_

_Wanna be a victum_

_Ready for abduction._

_Boy, your a alien,_

_Your touch so foreign,_

_It's supernatural,_

_Extra Terrestrial_

The figure launched himself from the wall and onto my bed, landing right on top of me. I squeaked and rolled off the bed. As I reflex I pulled my weapon, Black Rose from my belt. Black Rose seperated and turned into black twin gunblades. Both blades were short and attached to my arms. The blades had purple rose designs along the sides and had the name of my weapon eatched on the sides. (I know in the summery I said there were purple vines and red roses on the rod but I decided to change it.)

I stood up and saw Zack lying on my bed. He was staring at me smiling with Khristof laying next to him asleep. I stood up, the anger clearly on my face.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" I yelled at him. I never liked it when people heard me sing. It felt offending to me.

"Well I just came to see how you are. No need to be upset." He sat up and looked at me noticing the anger on my face.

"Upset? You've been ignoring me for the past few days, going off to who knows where not giving a damn about me or anyone else, sneaking out of the building and paying the security guards to erase the footage of you leaving, and now your telling me not to be upset?" I yelled at him. I was pretty sure anyone outside my room would hear me. I had no idea how right I was or that there was someone about to knock at my door until he heard the yelling. He stood off to the side and waited, guarding my door until we were done talking.

"Hang on a second." said Zack as he stood up. The smile fell from his face as he relized how angry I was. "Who said I didn't give a damn about you and-"

"You did apparently!" I yelled cutting him off. With each passing second I was getting more and more angry at Zack. I felt like Zack had betrayed both me and our friendship. "You've been ignoring me since we came back from that mission a week ago! You walk past me like I didn't exist!"

"H-how did you know about the security guards? Did Angeal tell you?" he whispered upsetting me more.

"How could I not know? The guards report people who leave after hours but you've managed to get away with it! It's obvious you were paying them to keep quite!" I yelled turning my back to him. My phone vibrated and I quickly checked it. It was from Aerith, and the message made my blood run cold.

"Mika please-" Zack begged.

" And Angeal didn't have to tell me! I walked by the office and heard them talking about it but they didn't say where you were going! It's like everyone in this place is betraying each other! I might as well report you for this and-"

"Mika, calm down!" said Zack as he took hold of my shoulders. He forced me to sit down on the bed and look at him. "Mika I'm sorry for the past few days, ok? I didn't mean to make you mad. I've just had a lot on my mind."

"You mean like my cousin?" I snapped at him.

"Yes, and that's why I came here. I wanted to talk to you about Aerith." he said. I didn't like the tone in his voice or where this was going.

"Your dating her. She already told me. Now get the fuck out of my room!"

"She told you? When?" he asked. Instead of replying I thew my phone at him with the message still open. He read it then dropped his eyes, his shoulders sagging.

This felt like a nightmare. I felt so betrayed. All I wanted to do was lay down on my bed and cry my eyes out. But I refused to make myself so vurnerable, especilly in front of Zack. Whenever I broke down I had a habit of reviling my secrets that I've never told anyone else. I've come close to reveiling them to Zack but whenever I was about to I ran away or went to one of my mentors rooms. On rare occasins I went to one of the other two girl SOILDER's rooms. On a extremly rare occasion I managed to sneak into Reno of the Turks room. He was my second best friend. I rather talk to him then anyone else since he understood me the best. No one cared if I went there or not. All of the Turks and the President knew I liked to go there so no one stopped me. They all practaclly loved me there.

"Just get out Zack." I said standing up again. I could feel my cheeks burning.

"Mika wait-" he said grabbing onto my arm. I pulled away from him as if his touch burned.

"Get out Zack! I dont need to hear your excuses!" I yelled still not facing him. I could feal the tears building up. I closed my eyes trying to hold them back.

"I dont want to fight about this!" he yelled standing up suddnly forceing me to face him. I kept my head down and let my bangs fall over my face so he couldn't see the look on my face.

"Let me go Zack." I could hear my voice shaking. I could tell Zack didn't notice.

"I love her Mika." he whispered. It felt like my heart skipped a beat. "We've only known each other for a few days, but I really felt a connection when I saw her. I'm sorry that I lied to you and ignored you. I really dont want to fight with you. I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it so it wouldn't be akward if all three of us hung out sometime."

"Out." I whispered dropping my head again. It felt like a big punch in the stomach. The guy i've loved for years is in love with my cousin. It felt like a nightmare. A nightmare that I was trapped in. I couldn't stand him being in the room anymore. I let the tears fall freely.

"Mika, are you crying?" he took hold of my chin and lifted my head up an inch before I turned my back to him again. "Mika what's wrong? I said I was sorry for ignoring you. I didn't know you were so upset by it."

"Get out Zack." I could feel part of my gunblades digging into my palms. They had cut through my black leather gloves. The tips of the blades were close enough to dig into my palms if I made a fist. I little too much sharpening made the get longer. They were starting to draw blood. Zack noticed the blood and grabbed my hand.

"Mika hang on-"

"Get the fuck out Zack!" I yelled pulling my hand away. "Get the fuck out of my room! I dont want to talk about this now or any other time! Or dont even want to look at you or hear your voice right now!"

"Mika please just let me say something-"

"Save it! Whatever you have to say go say it to my bitch of a cousin! You like being with her more then your so called best friend anyway!" That came out wrong. I didn't mean to word it like that. It's too late to take it back now.

"Mika... I know you dont mean that about me or Aerith. Just calm down and talk to me." he said while taking a step toward me.

"Get out!"I grabbed the closest thing to me which happened to be a chair.

I threw it towards Zack. He ran towards the door as soon as I touched the chair. He shut the door behind as he barely escaped being hit. The chair broke against the door. I could hear Zack panting on the other side of the door. He waited a few seconds and walked away. I listened to the sound of his footsteps walking away. I stood in the same sopt for a few seconds before I moved toward the door. I kicked the peices of chair away from the door so it wouldn't block the way. When Zack opened the door I got a glimpse of short red hair and a red coat. I walked over to my bed and layed face down. I heard the door open.

"Mika?" my mentor, Genisis called softly. He walked over to my bed and sat down next to me. "Mika I heard everything."

"I know you did." I whispered. The tears still fell like a waterfall. In the few second's i've layed on the bed half of the pillow was soaked.

"If you never need anything, you know i'm here for you. We all are." he said. He rolled me over and picked me up since I hadn't moved. "You really didn't mean to yell at him did you?"

"No, I didn't." I cried onto my mentor's shoulder for a few minutes until he got a call.

"I have to do a mission. I'll try to get you a few days off so you can think, and possibly talk things over with Zack." said Genisis as he stood up to leave.

"Thanks Genisis." I whispered. He gave me one last tight hug, put a peice of paper on my bed, then walked toward the door.

"You know it could be the time to tell him. I know he loves your cousin now, but it may not hurt to tell him." he said as he walked out the door.

I picked up the paper he left. It was a notification.

_Mika Yukihana/ Yuki-Hana, _

_You have been recomended by your mentors, the Turks and fellow SOILDER's to join First Class. The choice to join is yours. You may accept or refuse if you wish. Make sure to inform your mentor with your decision. If you accept you will recieve shorter hours, more vacation and personal days, and at least triple the pay you originally make. The more you excel the more you will be paid. If you refuse you may remain in Second Class if you wish. You must respond with your answer within three months. Your three months will start after this month. For the rest of this month and the first of yout three months, you will not hav to do any missions. You will still recieve payment during this time. Keep up the good work._

_Lazar _

I put the letter down on my bed. My tears had gotten on the paper. Since this was the fourth day of this month I had a lot of free time. I would have to remember to remind him how to spell my last name. I think I have the most akward name here. My first name translated into New Moon. My last name translated into Snow Flower when spelled with a dash in between Yuki and Hana. I relized my gunblades were still attached and still cutting into my hands. I would have to file the tips down. They dissipated into a black fog andwith a flash of purple light turned back into a small rod. I attached it back onto my belt.

I heard wimpering coming from under my bed. I stood up and got on my knees at the foot of the bed. Khristof was shaking under the bed. He must have run under there out of fear when I started to yell. He always went under the bed when he was scared. I forced a smile onto my face to reasure him. He crawled out towards me. I picked him up and held him close to me. He began to lick my hand, tearing at my gloves a little so he could lick my whole palm. The sight of him licking my hands reminded me that they were cut by my gunblades. I let Khristof lick my hand, too busy thinking about Zack.

At the mention of his name in my head I began to cry again. My phone vibrated. It was a text from Aerith. She was the one of the last people I wanted to talk to.

_Mika, would you like to go to the movies with me and Zack this afternoon?_

After the fight I just had with Zack over him "ignoring me" spending time with either of them wasn't on my list of things to do. I didn't want to spend my next two months being around either of them. I quickly texted back my reply.

_You can go fuck yourself and my so called best friend you bitch._

I closed my phone with so much force I almost broke it. A few drops of blood had ended up on the phone. Khristof had finished licking my hand. He pushed my phone out of my other hand with his nose so he could lick that one. I laughed when he glared at the phone for causing my hand to bleed more. He tore the glove on that hand and got to work. I held him close to me and the tears kept on coming. My phone vibrated again. I shifted my hold on Khristof so I could get the phone and so he could keep licking my hand. I wiped away some of the tears in my eyes so I could read it. It was a message from Reno.

_Hey Snow! Just finished mission and coming back. And guess what? I got the next month and a half off! Be there in about a hour. Plus I got a present for you. See ya then!_

I didn't reply to the message. Reno always text me right as he's about to fly a helicopter. Last time I did Rude was asleep and Reno stopped flying for a minute to reply. They almost crashed into a barn. Rude took away my phone for a week and my pay. Reno had to work overtime for a month.

I put my phone in my pocket picked up my ipod and carried Khristof out the door. As I stepped out I heard Angeal and Genisis talking down to the right side of the hall. I turned to walk the other way but I noticed Zack's door was open. His shadow cast out into the hall and I could tell someone was there with him. From where I was standing it sounded liek Tsung. I didn't want to face either party but facing my mentors would be easier then facing Zack for a split second.

I turned towards the right and walked towards Angeal and Genisis. They stopped talking when they saw me. Angeal hugged my when I got close.

"I'm sorry Mika." he said as he hugged me. He pulled away for a second to wipe away the tears on my face.

"It's alright. I'm going to Reno's room." I said quitely

"Alright. Let us know if you need anything. And let me know if you want to join First Class." said Genisis hugging me from my other side.

"I'll think about it." I said.

When they let go I made my way towards Reno's room. Since I didn't want to run into Zack, I ended up taking the long way there. It would take me at least a extra ten minutes to get there. I passed other people in the halls but ignored them all. I got the feeling I yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. I continued to make my way towards Reno's room. My phone rang and I answered it without checking to see who it was.

"Mika? It's Aerith. What's up with that text-"I hung up and cut her off in mid sentence.

She tried calling again but I ignored it. After about five minutes she stopped trying to call and left a voicemail.

_Mika please talk to me. I want to know what's going on. I'll call Zack and talk to him. Plese Mika I'm begging you. Call me back._

I deleated the message and kept walking. After a few minutes I made it to Reno's room. I pulled out my copy of his key and opened the door. At first I would sit on the floor by his door when he was gone. Elana took his key after the 20th or 30th time and made a copy for me. I walked over to Reno's bed and layed down. I checked the time to see I had about 45 minutes until Reno got here. I set Khristof on the bed and layed down next to him. Khristof curled up next to me and layed down.

I couldn't forget what I said to Zack. I really wished I had said things a little differently. I wiped away my tears the best I could. They practaclly stained the entire from of my shirt. It was begining to feel uncomfortable. I sat up and pulled off my shirt. My bra was a little wet but I left it on. I tossed my shirt on the floor since Reno never cared what I did in his room. I layed back down and pulled out my ipod. I hoped that singing would help me stop crying. After a few happy songs i was still crying. I checked the time and had 20 minutes till Reno came back. I finialy decided on a slow sad song. (Get Along With You- Kelis)

_Dont need no paper,_

_Dont need no pencils,_

_Dont need no love letters,_

_Cause I just wanna get along with you_

_No beeper,_

_Dont need no cellular,_

_No digital's better, listen_

_I just wanna get long with you_

_Try me,_

_Cause I be,_

_The one that makes you happy,_

_But the part that I dont get is_

_Why me?_

_You deny me._

_Now i'm forced to call this planning ended (i couldn't find this part)_

_Lonely lies some news forget_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_This is the saddist story_

_What was wrong with, my love?_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_Was it I loved you poorly?_

_Whatever it was,_

_I just want to get along with you_

Khristof moved to lay on my stomach. I could feel the tears burning down my cheaks.

_Dont need no car,_

_Dont need no truck,_

_Dont need no vechiles,_

_Cause I just want to get along with you_

_No planes,_

_Dont need no planes,_

_Dont need to be passenger_

_Cause I just wanna get along with you_

_Try me,_

_Cause I be,_

_The one that makes you happy,_

_But the part that I dont get is_

_Why me?_

_You deny me._

_Now i'm forced to call this planning ended_

_Lonely lies some news forget_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_This is the saddist story_

_What was wrong with, my love?_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_Was it I loved you poorly?_

_Whatever it was,_

_I just want to get along with you_

Khristof moved to lay next to my head. He licked my cheek. The door opened but I ignored it. I knew who it was and he was back early. Reno knew the song I was singing and knew I only sang it when I was really upset.

_Dont need these clothes,_

_Dont need this house,_

_Dont need these land or skies_

_Cause I just wanna get along with you_

_These lies_

_Dont need these damn lies_

_As a matter of fact this damn life_

_Cause I just wanna get along with you._

_Try me,_

_Cause I be,_

_The one that makes you happy,_

_But the part that I dont get is_

_Why me?_

_You deny me._

_Now i'm forced to call this planning ended_

_Lonely lies some news forget_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_This is the saddist story_

_What was wrong with, my love?_

_You took my heartbeat from me_

_Should have stabbed it for me_

_From ashes to dust,_

_I just want to get along with you_

Reno set a bag down at the foot of his bed and layed down next to me. He didn't say anything, he only hugged me. I rolled over and cried into his shoulder. I continued to sing until my voice was cracked. To be honest I expected this much to happen. I was afraid to find out the truth. Now that I know the truth, it hurts more then I thought it would. I began to doze off as Reno started to pet my hair. I ended up falling asleep in Reno's room.

* * *

**Chapter is over! Remember this is mostly a Zack and Cloud love story. Not Reno no matter what his relationship is with Mika. To say Mika's last name it's Yuki- Hana. Who wants to read a preview? :D Well you cant read it but I can tell you about it**

**It takes place a month later. Mika is spending time with the female SOILDERS when she discovers something about herself that's terrifying. Zack and Aerith try to comfort her but she refuses to see them. Afterwards Mika meets someone special. **

**There is your mini summery. Review if you want.**


	5. What's happened?

**New chapter. For those who dont know Reno calls Mika Snow because the first part of her last name means snow. She may also be refered to as flower in later chapters. Also the gift Reno got Mika are clothes. Any questions let me know. It's Mika''s pov. Enjoy!**

* * *

It's been about a month since I had the fight with Zack. He still thinks I was just mad at him ignoring me. As long as he didnt know the truth I didnt care what he thought. Both he and Aerith have tried calling and texting me, but I ignored them both. I spent the rest of the month with Reno. We spent the time we had going out to movies or clubbing. On a rare occasion we went on a shopping spree. Reno had a good eye for fashion which was surprising but predictible since he was gay. He just never told anyone other then me. The only thing we bought were accessiories and shoes. The outfit Reno bought me haven't been worn yet along with about 6 others. Since we were required to wear black, he managed to find a lot of outfits for me that I would look cute in, train and fight in, and still keep up with the dress code.

I was in my room changing my clothes. The other two girls, Cher and Solange, were going to walk around Midgar for the day. We were also going to a salon because Cher needed to redie her hair. I just needed a touch up and Solange was going to stick to the natural bed head look. I put on a purple bandana around my neck with a black rose imprinted on it. I wore a purple shirt with torn black fishnets attached to it. My black pants ended a little above my ankles. I wore my signiture black combat boots but changes my laces to purple. I had on black flingerless gloves that stopped a little above my wrist. Each glove had Purple snowflakes on them. Since Black Rose had cut holes in the palms of my normal gloves I had been too lazy to fix them. I threw them in the trash as soon as I had calmed down enough to tell Reno what happened. Lucky for me the gloves were part of his gift since I only had one pair.

Cher, Solange, and I weren't really friends. Since we were the only girls we just hung out randomly. We would hang out with Reno whenever he wasn't working. He was going to meet us at a ice cream parlor when he was done with his mission. The only advantage to being in SOLDIER or the Turks was that we got discounts on just about everything. I took Black Rose in my hand and held it for a few seconds. It dissipated into black fog and with a small flash it became a neckalce. It was a simple black chain. I took a look in the mirror and decided I wouldn't wear makeup.

On my way out I grabbed my phone and texted Solange and Cher telling them to meet me out front. Khristof had been dropped off in Angeal's room. Angeal agreed to watch him while we were out. Down the hall Zack's door was open. He stepped out with a smile on his face. Most likely going to see Aerith. I didn't want to face him but I needed to meet up with the others. He looked up and saw me by my door. The smile on his face dropped when he spotted me. I ran past him, ignoring him as he called my name. As I turned the corner, I could hear his foot steps as he gave chase after me, still calling me.

I kept running, turning around random corner's trying to lose him. He kept sight of me the entire time. At the 10th or 11th corner I relized I forgot my keys. I turned to see how far away Zack was when I came to a dead end. I ended up running smack dab into the wall. I bit my lip from the sudden force of hitting the wall, drawing blood. With nowhere left to go I was forced to turn around. The second I turned I saw Zack 10 feet away from me and closing in fast. When he got close enough I grabbed his shirt, spun him around and threw him into the wall. While he was stunned for about 20 seconds, I ran back towards my room. When I arrived in my room I stopped. My chest and stomach began to hurt very painfully. I've been feeling random flashes of pain like this the past few days. I tried to wait a minutes for the pain to fade but it didn't. Gritting my teeth, I tried to ignore it as I grabbed my keys and headed towards the door. I licked the blood from my lip away as I went.

Zack appeared in front of my door and tried to block my path. I took off Black Rose and it turned into a tazer (oh yea im evil). I tazed Zack in his chest while ignoring the pain in feel to the ground and I jumped over him. The shock was small and would only get me a minute, but Zack always recovered fast because of the mako in his system. I texted Cher and Solange letting them know I would be a few minutes. Knowing them they were already there. This had become a routine lately. I've been late to a few things avoiding Zack, but everyone understood. The sound of Zack's footsteps caught up to me quickely. I looked over my shoulder to see him no more then a few feet away.

The pain in my chest increased and caused me to slow down for a bit. Zack managed to grab my shirt as I slowed down. With Black Rose still in my hand I tazed his hand. I got him to let go for a few seconds giving me time to sprint ahead. He dropped back about 20 feet giving me time to round at least 5 corners. I finally saw the front doors in sight. Solange and Cher were there waiting for me. They were both on their bikes and had mine out beside their's. I heard Zack catch up to me again. I shoved Black Rose int my pocket, no time to turn it back into a necklace. I jumped on my bike and turned the keys.

Zack caught up to me right as I spead off, Cher and Solange right behind me. I was glad that it had rained last night. As I revened the engine as hard as I could, the mud left behind by the rain flew up and hit Zack square in the face. It slowed down him down a good few seconds giving us time to speed away. I knew that even if he went to get his bike right now he wouldn't catch up with us. Reno managed to get us special parts to make our's faster then normal. They were at least three times faster the Zack's. I didn't plan on talking to Zack or Aerith anytime soon. That much wasn't about to change. The pain in my chest finially began to dull down a little. After a few minutes it stopped altogether. I was fine for a few seconds until I began to cough. I looked at my hand to see blood. The mako in my system would have have healed my lip by now. It must have just been a little blood leftover on my lip that I missed. I ignored it and kept going until we came to the salon where we all got our hair done.

Oo About a hour and a half later oO

"Why wont you talk to them?" asked Cher as she set out tray of ice cream down on the table we were sitting at. "I know it was upseting for you and all but couldn't you try talking to them?"

"Well that's a good way to ruin someone's day. Nice job Cher." said Solange not taking her eyes off the book she was reading.

"Well I'm just saying..." she said pouting. She took her strawberry ice cream off the tray and passed out the others.

"It's a touchy subject for her and you shouldn't have asked." replied Solange while reaching out for her chocolate ice cream and taking a bite.

"How is it touchy? It's a simple question." she said taking a bite of her own ice cream.

"You weren't there to stop her from crying herself to death, yo." said Reno as he took a bite of his double fudge ice cream. I stomped on his foot hard from under the table.

The three of them continued to talk as I tuned out. I slowly took small bites of my cookie dough ice cream while watching them. I started to feel a small pain in my chest once I started eating. It wasnt too bad so, I ignored it for the time being. I felt the urge to cough a bit. I picked up a napkin and coughed into it. I didn't bother to look at it. I could feel something wet inside of it. I must be coming down with a cold. I balled it up inside another napkin and put it to the side. I continued to eat my ice cream ignoreing the napkin I had just coughed into.

Reno had joined Cher and I at the hair salon. Cher had gotten her roots re-dyed into a bright hot pink color to go with the rest of her hair. Instead of getting my hair trimmed I got a new hairstyle altogether. The left half of my hair was cut till it was a inch long. The right half was the same only there was a bang going over my eye. The bang went down a little past my chin. (if i find a picture i will put it here. for now think of Zexion's hair from kingdom hearts.)

Solange decided she didn't want to waste the hour and a half at the salon waiting for us. She went down the street from the salon into a tattoo parlor. She managed to get a tattoo of large black tenticles along her arms and back. She copied it from the book she was curently reading. The tattoo was urently covered in large bandages. She was reading a new book she brought with her, The Black Tattoo. (i'll put the link of the picture in the next chapter.)

Solange's bandages could be clearly seen. She wore a black corset and tight leather shorts with knee high boots. Her waist long hair was messy and barely combed. Her skin was slightly pale but not too much. She was reading her book while still paying attention to the conversation. Cher was wearing a reviling pink tank top and black jeans. Her hair ended midway to her back in waves. Cher had a deep tan that almost made her look orange, but she still looked good. She was pouting during the entire conversation.

"...ow. Snow." said Reno shaking me. I was so lost in thought I didn't relize Reno calling my name at first. "Are you ok, Snow? You've been spooning your empty cup for a while now."

"I have?" I looked down at my cup of ice cream. It was empty. I looked back up to see all three of them watching me. The pain in my chest increased a bit.

"Anyway I'm gonna get us some more ice cream." said Reno as he took our empty cups. "Anyone want something new or different?"

"Same." the three of us replied.

"Be back in a few, yo." he said as he threw the empty cups away and went to wait in line.

"Mika are you ok? You havent been acting yourself." asked Cher.

"I'm fine Cher. And what do you mean?" I replied.

"Well ever since the whole fight with Zack you've been acting different." said Cher. I took a glance at Reno waiting in line. He was waiting behind 15 people. The line seemed to be moving slowly. I glanced at Solange to see that she had put down her book and was glaring at Cher. I've never seen her look so angry before.

"What are you getting at Cher?" I asked trying to ignore the look on Solange's face.

"Well you haven't been pulling any pranks on anyone. You've been avoiding Zack and your cousin for weeks now. You spend all your time holed up in your room or with Reno. You just haven't been yourself." she said.

"What and how she choses to act is her own business." snapped Solange.

"Whatever." Cher replied. She turned away from Solange to stare at something else. I glanced over to the line and saw the line had gone down a bit. There was now 13 people standing in front of Reno.

"Just the record I'm on your side Mika." said Solange unexpectedly. Cher and I turned to stare at her in shock. Solange never took sides with anything no matter whta it was. She prefered to stay out of as much trouble as possible.

"W-what?" I stammered.

"No offence Mika, but this is your fault. If you had told Zack how you felt all of this avoiding him and your cousin crap wouldn't have happened." she said.

"Solange-" I said but she held up her hald to keep me quite.

"Now you said Zack told you he loved her the first time he saw her. That's what upsets me the most. I never believed all that love at first sight shit. Those who do end up broken hearted. Zack and your cousin will end up breaking up one way or another. They've only known each other for a few weeks and they call it love? It's nothing more then a simple attraction and wont last long. All of this shit is completly ridiculous."

"Ok Solange I think you've made your point." said Cher gently grabbing onto her arm. Solange pulled away.

"No I havent. My point is that if anyone deserves to be with Zack it's you Mika. You've always loved him. You've been with him though everything. It might not last any longer then a month, two at the most. I dont know when or how but I know the two of you will end up together. That I can promise you." Solange picked her book back up and continued reading.

"Thanks Solange." I said after about a minute. A single tear escaped and rolled down my cheek and onto the table. Solange set her book down once again and gave me a hug. Cher came around the other side of the table to give me a hug on my other side. Solange's words made me feel better but I had a feeling she was wrong.

After about 10 more minutes, Reno had caome back with our ice cream. It turns out there was a problem with the register. We ate our ice cream while we talked about random things. I decided that I would join First Class. I would tell Genisis when we got back. After a few more minutes we decided to head rode with me because he didn't have a ride. As we rode I coughed a few times. The apin was slowly increasing bit by bit. I could fell something wet get on my hands. I wiped it on my pants and ignored it. When we were about 5 or six miles away we stopped for a minute to rest. I stumbled getting off my bike. Reno caught me and held me up.

"Are you alright Snow?" asked Reno. He had a worried look on his face.

"Yeah I'm fine. I think I'm just coming down with a cold." I said. Reno gave me another worried look and helped me stand up.

I leaned against my bike and looked out in the distance. We weren't too far away from the slums. I could see Aerith's church from here. Outside the doors I could see Zack's motrocycle. I shifted my gaze somewhere else. There was a small house that I've never noticed before. It was a faded red color with old blue shingles. The door to the house opened and a old woman stepped out. She walked over to Aerith's church in a quick pace and went inside. Curosity got the best of me. I looked over at the others to see them deep in conversation. They would notice me gone after a few mintutes but it would be ok. I'd just tell them I went for a walk.

Eager to know what the old woman was up to, I ran to the church, the mako in my system giving me a extra boost. I automaticlly wish I didn't run. The pain in my chest increased ten-fold while I ran. When I arrived I leaned against the church wall trying to wait out the pain. It didn't fade. I grit my teeth and tried to ignore it the best I could. I managed to find a hole in the wall large enough for me to see through. I could see the old woman standing near the front of the pews in front of Zack and Aerith.

The old woman wore a beautiful navy blue robe with a hood. The robe was decorated with seems of different colors woven in different patterns. The woman's hair was long and completly white with age. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her skin was dark and wasn't very rinkled. The only odd thing was her ears. The tips of her ears were pointed. They made me think of a cat for some reason. I couldn't see her face because her back was turned toward me. I could see her hands from under the long sleaves of her robe. Her nails looked like they were long and sharp. To be honest they looked more like claws. I could tell they werent fake. They were painted dark blue.

Zack and Aerith were over by one pew. Zack was standing up and staring at the old woman. He was wearing nothing but boxers which looked like he was rushing to put them on. Aerith was sitting on the pew and was covering herself with a blanket. Both had messy hair and blushes on their faces. I had a preety good idea of what they were doing when the old woman came in. As proof their clothes were scattered on the floor. This was deffintly a strange day for me. They both wore looks of surprise on their faces. If it was me I would most likely have the same look on my face.

"You young man," said the old woman while pointing a finger at Zack. Her voice didn't sound old at all. She sounded like she could have been in her thirties. "The saying goes, 'Keep your friends close and your enimies closer'. For you however, I believe that saying should be reversed. Try paying attention to the person you've known all your life instead of your enemy." When she said enemy she nodded towards Aerith. How could Aerith be a enemy? She would never hurt anyone or anything.

"As for you young lady." she continued while pointing at Aerith. " 'Lose your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself'. In other words watch what you do and who you do it to or it will end badly." she said. (i got this quote from a old indian sayings website.)

The old woman pulled up her hood and quickly left the church. I ducked behind a few empty trash cans that most likely were just dumped and left here. I watched her head back towards her small house. About half way there she stopped and looked right where I was hiding. I ducked behind the cans hoping she didn't see me. After a few seconds she turned and continued on her way. I let out a big breath I had no idea I was holding. When she was out of sight I looked back through the hole in the church. I couldn't see Zack and Aerith but I could hear them. I quitely stood up and turned to leave.

I broke into a run after I was sure they hadn't seen me. The old woman's words were still burned into my memory. The part about Aerith had me worried. I couldn't imagine Aerith doing anything to hurt someone. She would freak out if she hit a fly. Maybe the old woman was just losing her mind or something. After a few minutes of running I could see Cher, Solange, and Reno. There was a fourth taller figure standing with them. As I got closer I could see the long silver hair. When I got close enough everyone turned to look at me. Reno ran up to me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Where were you!" he yelled at me. My chest began to hurt as he held me. He was cutting off my oxygen.

"Reno... can't... breath..." I managed to choke out. He let me go immeditly.

"Sorry, yo." he said as I coughed trying to get more air into my lungs. My chest began to hurt more. It must have been the sudden lack of air causing it to hurt.

"Mika, where were you?" asked Sephiroth. He looked over my shoulder to where I had just come from. I'm guessing he knew where I was.

"I just went for a walk. I felt like clearing my head for a bit." I said. He gave me the 'I don't believe you' look but didn't say anything about it.

"Next time tell us when your gonna walk off like that, yo." said Reno. He had a worried expression on his face. I nodded at him and turned to face Sephiroth.

"Why are you here?" I asked. At the sound of my voice he stopped looking over my shoulder and looked at me.

"I just returned from a mission." he said. "I was on my way back when I saw your friends here. They were worried because you had dissapeared without saying anything. We were about to go looking for you when you suddenly ran up here."

"Next time try telling someone before you leave, yo." said Reno.

"Sure thing." I said.

Reno had turned to talk to Solange and Cher who were trying to figure out how we were getting back. Sephiroth was coming with us. That left us to decide who was riding with who. It seemed since I was closest to Sephiroth he would ride back with me. Or rather I would ride with him since he was driving. Reno would ride with Cher. We stayed there talking about random things. How Sephiroth's mission went, what we were doing when we got back, how I was going to deal with my problem. Sephiroth said he saw Zack this morning before he left. He still thinks I'm mad at him for ignoring me. We could hear thunder and decided to leave as fat drops started to fall.

As we got ready to leave I felt a sudden flash of searing pain in my chest. I gasped and feel to my knees. Everyone noticed and rushed over to me.

"Are you alright?" asked Solange.

I noded my head, unable to speak because of the pain. I tried to stand but was taken over by a wave a dizzy-ness. Sephiroth caught me before I feel again. I mumbled my thanks and tried to stand again. Both my head and the pain in my chest protested. I was able to stand by myself now. I reasured everyone I was fine. I took a few steps towads my bike where Sephiroth was waiting. The rain was coming down in a light shower now. As I walked the pain increased with every step I took. I stopped and gripped my chest. The pain was becoming too unbearable.

"Mika what's wrong?" asked Reno.

I ignored him. It felt like something was coming up. I knew I was going to puke. The pain was too much to bear. I collapsed on the wet muddy ground, closed my eyes and threw up. Everyone called out my name and began to run towards me. They all sound panicked. I stayed down on my hands and knees. The pain felt as though it had increased. I slowly opened my eyes. What I saw scared me more then I thought possible.

There was blood... My blood. I had expected the ice cream from earlier but I threw up blood. I quickly crawled away from the giant patch of blood on the ground. By the time I was a good few feet away everyone had reached me. I felt someone touch my shoulders but I pulled away. I could feel another one coming up. I threw up again, this time the blood getting on my clothes.

"Mika!" everyone yelled. I felt myself being picked up and carried.

"It's gonna be ok, Mika!" said Reno. I opened my eyes to see Reno carring me.

"Let's get her back to ShinRa, quickly! The doctors there will know what to do." said Cher.

Reno didn't walk too far before I felt the urge to throw up again. I rolled over in his arms so my mouth was away from him, then threw up some more blood. I was begging to feel light headed. I could hear everyone talking, but I couldn't tell who's voice from who. I couldn't make out anyone's words either. I could feel myself being carried once again. I could feel the rain coming down harder now, in buckets. I tried to open my eyes again but failed. I felt too weak. The pain was too much for me. All I could hear was the rain, pounding down. Then after a few seconds, nothing. I was able to open my eyes a bit, but everything was bluring and hard to see. Reno looked at me and said something that I couldn't make out. The edges of my vision started to fade.

I guess Reno managed to get me to one of the bikes. The wind and rain felt like it was pounding into me, like a bunch of hammers. After I guess was a few minutes of riding, My vision gave out. There was nothing. No sound, no feeling, no sight. Just me and the darkness.

* * *

I was thinking about that strange old woman. What was she talking about? It made no sense to me. Aerith and I had continued what we started once she left. However I felt like there was someone else. While the old woman was here it felt like there was someone else too. I think I was just being paranoid. My thoughts were interpted when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my neck.

"Are you alright, Zack?" asked Aerith as she nuzzled her face into my neck.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking." I said.

"Are you thinking about the old woman or Mika?" she asked standing up. She walked over to her flowers to tend to them.

"Sorta both." I said.

"Well the old woman I dont see why. As for Mika I still dont understand what's the matter with her." she said not looking up from her flowers. "Did you try talking to her?"

"Yea I tried today, but she tazed me when I got close." I said looking up at the roof.

"She tazed you?" gasped Aerith tearing away from her flowers. "Are you alright?"

"Yea I'm fine." I said. Aerith came over and sat next to me.

"Where did she taze you?" she asked. I pointed to the slightly red spot on my neck. There was two small dots where she tazed me. Aerith leaned over and kissed my neck. "Better?"

"Yep." I said. I pulled Aerith into my lap and gently layed my head on top of hers.

"Glad it made you feel better. Now I'm going to try and call Mika." she said.

"What for?" I said.

"To see if she'll talk to me, to ask why she tazed you, to see what's been going on the past month." she said.

"You know she may not answer." I said.

"20th times the charm." Aerith said as she got off my lap and picked up her phone.

"Good luck." I said. After a few seconds she closed her phone and put her hands on her hips.

"She didn't answer." she said.

"Didn't really expect her to." I mumbled.

Aerith walked back to her flowers. As she got to the edge her phone rang. Sighing she walked back to the pew where she set her phone and answered it.

"Helllloo?" she answered. "Wait who is this?" she said. I looked over to Aerith to see she had a concered look on her face. After a few seconds she hung up her phone. Tears began to stream down her face. I shot up and sprinted over to Aerith.

"Aerith what's wrong?" I asked gently shaking her shoulders.

"M-mika!" she managed to choke out between her sobs. "She's in the hospital!"

"What?" I said. "Who called you?"

"I dont know! It was some guy. He said Mika was in the hospital!" She said bawling.

"It's ok Aerith we'll go and make sure she's ok." I said while taking Aerith's hand.

We ran outside to where I parked my bike. I got on and started it. Aerith hoped on and held onto me tightly. I spead away towards the ShinRa building. Aerith didn't say what hospital she was in but it would make sense that she be at ShinRa. She would have been sent there because of the mako in her systam. As we rode on I couldn't help but wonder what was so bad that she had to go to the hospital.

* * *

The first thing I saw was a bright white light. It was shinging right down in my eyes making my vision blurry. Whoever came up with the idea to put a bright light right over the part of the bed where the head would be deserved to be slapped. How can a person get their rest if a bright light was shining in their eyes? Some hospital this is...

_'Wait, hospital?'_ I tried to sit up only to be attacked by a major headace. I've never felt so weak before. I tried to take in my surroundings with my blurred vision. All I could make out were a few chairs, a door, a heart monitor to my left, and a IV to my right. Today's events suddenly came rushing back to me at the sight of the IV. My friends, me falling, the coughing, the blood... I shook my head a few times trying to forget about it. It barely worked. I turned my attention to the IV bags. There were three of them and they were _huge. _Ok not that huge but all three looked about a little under a foot and a half long.

Each bag had one tube and all three met at one point. The point was a larger tube that fed into my arm. The fact that there was a larger then normal tube in my arm didn't bother me in the slightest. The thing that bothered me was that all three bags were filled with blood. Three huge bags filled with blood, and all connected to my arm. I could hear my heartrate monitor speed up a bit. I squinted my eyes to try and get a better look at the words on the bags.

All I could make out was a large "O" on each bag. I guessed it was my blood type even though I wasn't too sure what my blood type was. My vision was clearing up a bit and I noticed the stains on the sheets. It was dried blood. They were in large patches. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. I was about to fall back asleep when a familiar voice rang out.

_"Infinate in mystery, is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface, the wandering soul knows no rest."_

"Loveless Act I. Hello Genisis." I whispered. I opened my eyes to see my mentor taking a chair and dragging it to the bed.

"Glad to see your up." he said as he slumped into the chair. "You gave everyone quite a scare." I noticed some blood on his coat. He had a tired expression on his face.

"What happened to you?" I asked. He leaned over and laid his head on my shoulder.

"I had three bags of blood taken out of me." he replied while pointing at the blood bags that were hooked up to me.

"All of that blood is yours?" I asked.

"Yes, I gave mine when you destroyed the last bag the hospital had."

"How?" I asked. Genesis lifted up his head and his blue eyes peered into mine.

"After Sephiroth dropped you off here he took the others away so the doctors could help you. He contacted Angeal and I to watch you while he took care of everything else." he started off in a weary voice. "When we got here everything seemed ok and you looked like you would be just fine."

"But?" I said. I had a feeling he was holding something back, and I was right.

"But then Zack and Aerith came to see you. They started yelling at you for ignoring them. They figured that if they were there you wouldn't be here. However it doesn't matter if there were here or not because you still would have ended up here."

"I dont remember a thing." I said wearly.

"I dont blame you. You lost too much blood." he said while closing his eyes.

"Dont stop now. What happened then?" I most likly sounded like a little kid begging to hear the end of a story.

"You got mad and started to yell at them too. Then you took your IV stand and started to swing it around. The bag broke which explains the blood. You ended up chasing them around the hospital wing. Whenever they came near a exit you threw something to block the way. After about two hours you stopped and passed out. Then you woke up and started to cough up blood like a storm."

"I almost died didn't I?" I asked. He opened his eyes and sighed at my question.

"Yes, the mako in your blood left you barely hanging on. The bag you broke was the last bag they had with your blood type so I gave them some of mine. Although the doctors dont know how that will affect you." he explained. I must have had a questioning look on my face because he sighed again. "They aren't sure if the mako in my blood might harm you or make you better. It will most likely help you a bit by making you feel a bit better, but there is no garntee(sp?)."

"Where's Angeal?" I asked after a few minutes.

"He went to interogate Reno and the others. Sephiroth had to report back in. He should be back soon." Genesis said quitely.

"I still cant remember anything." I replied.

"The doctor said you would be like that for a while." Genisis stood up and took off his coat and boots.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he started to push me.

"I just gave you more then three quarts of blood and I am tired and feel like I;m going to pass out. Now move over and make room for me."

I scooted over careful not to more the IV attached to my arm. Genesis laid down in the bed next to me and feel asleep. I closed my eyes and let sleep take over me for now. Hopefully when I woke up I would get some answers.

* * *

"Mika I'm so glad your still alive, yo!" a familiar voice screamed into my ear. I opened my eyes to see Reno's bright red hair. He was hugging me tightly and I felt like I was going to suffocate.

"R-reno... let... go..." I managed to squezzed out.

"Sorry." he said. "I was really worried about you. After you passed out from swinging the IV stand around and all..."

"I get it. I worried all of you. Where are Cher and Solange?" I asked.

"Back in your room waiting for you with your dog. They're also keeping Zack away." he said

"Well I bet that will be intresting. And he's a wolf, not a dog." I said.

"Whatever, yo." he replied.

"Wheres Genesis?" I asked. I had just realized that he was gone along with his coat and shoes.

"He went to get some coffee."

As Reno went on rambling about how he thought it was funny that I tried to kill Zack and Aerith, my mind began to wander. Small flickers of my memory began to come back slowly. I remembered yelling at the pair as they yelled at me. The IV stand breaking glass and knocking over things. The bag breaking... all the blood... then falling. I took a few deep breaths as I thought about the blood. I silently managed to fight back the panic attack that was about to take over. Once it was over a nurse came in the room smiling.

"Hello Mika. How are you feeling?" she asked while checking my heart rate monitor.

"I'm dizzy and have a headace." I replied.

"Dont worry about that. A few days rest wll help you feel better." she said not taking her eyes off the monitor. She walked around the bed and squezzed the IV bags for a few seconds. "You seem to be doing fine. The doctor is testing your blood and will be here in about a hour." she said. She wrote a few things down on a clipboard at the foot of the bed and left.

"Did anyone else feel a chill or notice something was off?" I looked towards the door to see Angeal and Genesis both with cups off coffee in their hands. Genesis handed one to Reno and Angeal handed one to me.

"I thought hospital patients weren't saposed(sp?) to drink coffee?" asked Reno taking a sip of his own.

"They're not." replied Angeal. "But under the circumstances I figured she could use it."

"So," I said slowly waiting for the others to look at me. "do they know what's wrong with me?"

"Yes but they wouldn't tell us until you were awake." mumbled Genesis.

"I asked the nurse as she passed but she wouldn't talk." said Angeal.

"Then I just have to wait for the doctor to get here." I said. "Wonderful." I took my first gulp of coffee and realized how thirsty and hungry I was.

"This had better be worth the wait. I'm getting a bad feeling about all this, yo." said Reno. He had finished his coffee and had thrown away his cup.

"Why wouldn't it be worth the wait?" I asked. At that moment I noticed how tired and strained Reno looked. Both Angeal and Genesis looked the same. Reno seemed a bit more angry as he paced around the room.

"Reno calm down." I said. "Why wouldn't it be worth the wait?"

"I mean come on guys dont you see it?" he asked. He had stopped pacing and stood in front of the window.

"Your not making sense." said Angeal.

"Can you get to the point?" I asked.

"Yes Reno get to the point." sad Genesis.

"Ok first off Mika starts to cough up blood so we bring her here. Now after she passes out the doctor goes over her then decides to take a 'lunch break'. Doesn't that seem odd to you?" he explained.

"A bit," said Genesis. "I was wondering about that too."

"Exactly. Also I walked around this place and noticed Mika was the only patient here. The doc would have had plently of time for his break. Why couldn't this wait until they figured out what was wrong with her."

"Can you get a little more to the point Reno?" I asked stubbonly. I could barely get where he was going but I didn't like it. Something just seemed really off. Plus I had the feeling like something bad might happen.

"I tried to follow the doc and overheard them on the phone. All I could make out was 'tell the professor' and 'get her file'. Then theres all this stuff about wating till Mika wakes up. Now we have to wait an hour before we can find anything else out? I'm just getting the feeling something bad is going around here, yo."

"Reno I think your over reacting." said Angeal. "I admit the lunch break thing and the long wait do bother me but I'm sure nothing bad is happening."

"Whatever. All I'm saying is that something doesn't feel right." he said as he slummped back into the chair.

"Well we'll find out in about a hour." I said. "All we can do now is pass the time."

We ended up takling about some of the things I did while I was in my rage. Zack and Aerith got checked up by a nurse. They were shaken and other then a few cuts from broken glass (that I broke with my IV) they were fine. Aerith had returned to the church after Genesis forced her to leave. She refused at frst but he got a few Grunts to 'escort' her out of the building. Angeal chewed out Zack for making my condition worse. He was getting some extra missions along with his regular missions without pay. Angeal meant it to keep Zack and Aerith away form each other so they couldn't gang up on me again.

My stomach kept growling while we waited. Since the food in the hospital wing was terrible I talked Reno into going to get me a sub. He brought back six and I ended up eating three by myself. Angeal said I would need all the food I could get to make me stronger to help replace some nutrients I might have lost. The nurse threw a fit when she came to check on me and saw me eating subs and drinking coffee. She got even madder when she realized none of the guys were going to stop me.

She left in a angry fit which cause us all to laugh. The laughing caused me to cough ap a bit more blood. I ignored it and didn't let the others know blood had come up. I wiped the blood on my hand with a napkin. We later talked about my possible promotion. Genesis decided that if my results were too bad I wouldn't join right away. He would give me an extra month if he could. I hoped I wouldn't need it. After about twenty more mintues the doctor walked in.

I had to admit he looked cute. He had short black hair and bright green eyes. He seemed like he could be a few inches taller then me. From the way he looked, he didn't look a day over 30.

"Mika I'm Dr. Quinn, " he said. "and I'm afraid I have some bad news."

* * *

**Omg I wanted to continue from here but I decided to leave it like this and do the rest in the next chapter. I would have loved to make it longer but I didn't want it to be super long. I may not update this story for a while because I'm starting a new story and finishing another one. I think i'll update this story sometime near my birthday, which is next month. Since school is starting again I'll update even less. Now I'm going to work on the last chapter of my Devil May Cry story and come up with a title for my new Okami story.**


	6. Kitty and Slicer go a courtin' lol jk

**This is the longer I've ever written. Because I've been asked repeatedly I decided to change a few things up. Next is a halloween special. Then note then back to normal. More will be explained in the next chapter which is the author's note. READ IT! anyway it's with Mika and partly four other people.**

* * *

I got up off the floor and stretched my aching muscles. Kristof was laying on my bed asleep, his black fur slowly rising and falling. I made my way to the shower in my new room which was now on a completely different wall. Since I came back from the hospital wing all of my stuff had been moved to a new room. I was now in some other wing where the First class SOILDERS stayed. My room was pretty much sandwitched between Genesis and Angeal's. I didn't know where the white haired SOILDER'S room was. He didn't trust me to know where his room was.

I started to take off my clothes as I walked towards my giant bathroom. Everything was either purple porchlin or black granit. Whoever decorated my room knew me very well. It had to be Genesis , he knew me very well. Besides Zack he was the only one who knew what I liked. My room was set up in deep purples and black just like the bathroom. There were a few splashes of red here and there. It looked pretty good. Maybe I should change my obsession from purple to red.

As I stripped my thoughts drifted back to four days ago when my doctor told me how I was doing. It hadn't been good. The aftermath of that cheered me up a bit but it still bothered me. I turned on the water trying to forget, but just thinking about it bothered me. As I waited for the water to warm up my thoughts kept drifting. I absently poured some instant scented bubble soap into the tub not paying attention at all. Placing the plug in the tub I climbed in and layed there as the water filled up. Closing my eyes I leaned my head back, relaxed, and let out a long sigh. Once again my thoughts drifted back to the doctor.

To make a long story short, I was going to die. I had an estimate of four of five years left to live. As it turns out I have lung cancer, which made no sense. I shouldn't have been able to get lung cancer. But the reason why I had it was quickly discovered. The mako in my system should have prevented me from getting sick at all. I didn't get the usual amount of mako in my system as normal SOILDERS recived. After looking at my blood test then at Genesis, I discovered I only had about half of the mako I needed. That plus the many missions i've been on that invloved explosions and burning buildings messed up my lungs. I had a pretty severe case of lung cancer now.

The doctors didn't know how the mako in Genesis blood would affect me. All they could tell is that it will help extend my life by an extra year or two. Angeal took my results to Director Lazard and he's looking into it. I should have gotten all of the required mako when I joined. While it was under investigation Lazard promoted me to First. He insisted on it and as my first job as First was to take a squad of grunges to some of the country towns and check the mako reactors. Lucky for me I got to see Gongaga first and spent some time with Zack's parents. They practicly raised me since I had no parents of my own. My mom died when I was two and I didn't know my dad. Either way thats a story for some other time.

I used my foot to turn off the water as it neared the edge of the tub. Absently I fingered my hair which has been cut a few inches shorter. I leaned my head back as I thought about what I could do today. Angeal was with Sepheroth on a mission and Genesis was off doing a mission in Wutai by himself. He should be back in a few days to deliver a report then he'll return to Wutai. Zack was on some other mission but I knew once he came back he would go see Aerith.

Zack, Aerith and I were alright again. Once I got back to my room I found Zack sitting on my bed holding Kristof. He started waving his arms around madly asking why I was being so mean to him. I didn't know what to say at first without reveiling my secret love for him. Eventualy I told him it was because I was on my special time of the month and the sickness made it worse... and that Sepheroth made me attack him like that. He believed me and everything was cool until he went to Sepheroth and started throwing a tantrum.

Sepheroth had no idea what he was talking about and ignored him for a while. That was until Zack grabbed onto his leg and refused to let go all while having a tantrum. In the confusion Seperoth had trouble trying to pry Zack off his leg to no avail. He then began yelling at me which attracted the attention of the people who passed by. I yelled back at him saying that it wasn't my fault and Zack took that moment to let go and try to strangle Sepheroth. That was not the best idea because that resulted in Zack pulling out a few strands of Sepheroth's hair.

It was only two or three strands. Once Sepheroth saw the hairs he went beserk and tried to kill the both of us. That had to be the most terrifying moment of my life. We pretty much ran away and tried to avoid his 9-foot long sword as it cut into our surroundings and tore everything to shreads. We both managed to avoid his attacks with our own swords until we ran into Genesis and Angeal. Angeal decided to stay out of it and just walked away while Genesis got pissed and defended us.

My mentor acted as our sheild and defended us from the white haired SOILDER's wrath. Zack and I were about to sneak away until Genesis singed a small part of Sepheroth's hair. For a while the four of us just stood there in shock waitng and watching to see what Sepheroth would do. After what seemed like an hour he _really_ went beserk. His skin and eyes took on a reddish pulsing glow to prove it. Long story short we all ended up running away from Sepheroth's wrath. When he finially calmed down Genesis yelled at me for making Sepheroth mad.

That resulted in the two of us fighting and he ended up using his fire materia yet again and singed my hair and eyebrows. My hair was spiky like Zack's now only mine was slicked back a bit. I looked like a had a short spiky mane of hair like a lion. That resulted in the two of us going to see Aerith where Zack filled her in on everything I told him. She accepted it without question hugged me and everything was normal again. Well as normal as things could be with the two of them being together and all. Aerith took one look at my hair and gave me a makeover.

She cut off all the burnt hair and managed to make it look decent. She trimmed my eyebrows a bit so they were extremely thin. I looked like a man now but at least I still had both eyebrows and some hair. Once I got back to the SOILDER headquaters people started making comments about me looking a bit like Simba from The Lion King in his teen years. Others said I looked like I could be Zack's sister, or Angeal's daughter. Comments like that resulted in a lot of the second and thirds ending up in the hospital wing. And that was just Zack's wrath at work. Defending me against everyone just like when I first joined.

After a few minutes I got bored and decided to get out. I drained all the water out of my tub and got out to dry off. I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped back into my room. Kristof was on awake now and held my phone in his mouth. His tail wagged and he trotted over to the end of the bed still holding my phone. I held out my hand and he dropped the phone into my hand. I flipped it open to see I had a new message from Zack.

_I'm comin' home early! See ya in about 3 hours._

I knew it wouldn't take him 3 hours to get here. He would go see Aerith first then come see me. I placed the phone down as I finished drying off and started dressing meself. I didn't have anything to do today. I figured I go down to the normies training building. It's about the halfway point of the second branch when new recruits decided they wanted to join. We called them normies or noobs because they didn't yet have the mako put inside their bloodstream. Before they could join SOILDER as thirds they had to go through training to see if they were good enough.

The second branch is when the offical SOILDER training began. The first branch lasted about 5 months just learning about the rules, regulations, codes, meteria use, etc. The second branch is the combat training and last for about eight months. At the end they take their entrance exams. The first part of the exam is a written test to make sure you know all the rules and what not. The second part is a feild exam. The trainers catch monsters and confine them in a closed space about 150 miles out.

The space is in a forest set up with hundreds of cameras to monitor their progress. The objective was to make it from one end of the forest to other within the time limit. Along the way you had to defeat monsters as they attacked you. Any gil or items they dropped was first come first serve. The time limit is set to two hours. If your not out by then you fail and have to wait another year before applying again. The First normally monitor this test and comment on who they think will be good addition to SOILDER. If you were lucky and good enough you could skip being a Third and go strait to Second if one of the First likes you. Thats how Zack and I ended up as Seconds.

I smiled at the happy memory of the two of us being accepted as Seconds as I picked out my clothes at random. I wore the standard uniform but without the logo and suspenders. My shirt ended just above my stomach. I wore one shoulder guard on my left shoulder with a long sleave. The guard was held in place but a few straps. Instead of regular cargo pants I wore shorts that ended at mid-thigh and two black belts around my waist **(1). **I wore high healed boots that went almost up to my knees. There wore short gloves that extended just above the wrist.

I let my hair drip dry as I walked over to the mirror above my nightstand. My shirt ended a few inches above my navel reveiling my stomach. I recently got few tattoos out of severe case of having nothing to do. There was one on my stomach of a black rose surrounded by purple flames. (But you cant guess what my two favorite things are). The other one was on my chest above my left breast. This one was a pawprint inside a flower. A rose to be exact. I didn't bother with makeup since the water from my hair would most likely cause it to run. Kristof barked eager to get out of the room. Smart little guy must have known I was planning on leaving.

Well it wouldn't hurt to take him with me. Whenever he came with me people just couldn't help but stare at him. Kinda useful when you want to see the normies. It's like he has this calming affect on people. And it can be kinda rough down there. They all acted like their thugs and are the toughest guys out there. Well at least thats what Zack said. Kristof barked again tearing me from my thoughts. Five little lights were glowing from his collar.

Curtersy of Reno, he bought a little dark blue leather collar and hallowed out five holes in them. That didn't make sense at first until I saw the small pebble sized meteria he planned to put in them. He carried the basic and most common types. Cura, Haste, Slow, Bio, and one special type that could use all types of black magic. **(2) **I have no idea how or where he got that but I wasn't going to complain about it. The surprising thing was that when I was sparring with Zack, Kristof used a slow spell on him. It scared the living hell out of us and while we were trying to figure it out he used a haste spell to make him move at normal speed again.

Watching him throw out spells was both awsome and cute at the same time. Smiling at the thught of Kristof's little acomplishment(sp?), I picked up Kristof and left with him out of my door. I made sure to get Black Rose before I left the room. Knowing Leo Night, head commander of the noobs I would need it.

* * *

"Runt!"

I winched as I heard the commander yell at me. I knew it was me because I was the shortest person in this stupid camp. Plus I was considered the weakest one here. I turned to see the Commander walking towards me. He looked pretty calm except I could tell that he wasn't. The other tranies stopped their training and turned to watch me. I knew they were expecting something good to happen.

"Yes, Commander Night?" I managed to squeak out.

He didn't speak for a minute as he watched me. His stormy grey eyes held no emotion, which was the scary part. No matter how he acted on the outside you could tell how he felt by looking at his eyes. Some of the oldest guys here told me about him. He didnt seem dangerous or scary like the others said. It wasn't until I saw him fight or blow up on someone that I became afraid of him.

"Whats your name?" he asked. I knew where this was going. It was a lecture and a way to make you feel like shit at the same time.

"Cloud Strife, sir." I mumbled. I met his gaze although every fiber in my being told me to look down.

"Why are you here Strife?" he asked while crossing his arms.

"To join SOILDER, sir." I replied. In a quick second I saw something that looked like agitated flash across his eyes before it disapeared. It was quickly replaced by anger.

"THEN HOW IN THE _HELL_ CAN YOU DO THAT WITH THAT KIND OF FIGHTING! MOVES LIKE THAT WILL JUST WIND UP GETTING YOU KILLED! YOUR SAPOSSED TO ATTACK THE DUMMY NOT SWIPE AT IT LIKE A KITTEN! IF THIS WAS A REAL BEHEMOTH YOU WOULD BE DEAD IN LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS FLAT! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT RUNT! TO BE KILLED IN LESS THEN FIVE SECONDS! WHAT KIND OF DEATH IS THAT! YOUR OWN MAMA WOULDN'T WANT TO MORN OVER YOUR LOSS!"

By the time he had started yelling I had my head down. I knew it was best to not say anything and to just take it. I could hear the other trainies laughing at me while I stood there taking it, so I tuned everything out. I hated it when he did this to me. I was the weakest person here. Sure he yelled at the others but he did it to me a lot more. Sometimes I wonder why I even wanted to join in the first place.

Right in the middle of his rant, one of the small sacks of sand that we used to fill up the dummies hit his head. He stopped in midsentence and turned around looking for whoever threw it. I was half expecting him to start foaming at the mouth. No one stopped his rants and got away with it. He was expecting one of the others to have thrown it. Instead everyone had their attention turned toward the person standing in the doorway to the training room.

It looked like a man but after closer inspection I could see it was a woman. She had short slicked back spiky black hair. She was dressed in all black and her outfit resembles the standard SOILDER uniform. Actully it was kinda revealing, showing off the tattoo on her stomach. She was wearing high heals boots that almost reached knees and short gloves. Her violet eyes practacly sparkled with amusement. The mystery woman didn't look important but I felt like I should know her. In her arms there appeared to be a small black dog. It was kinda cute looking.

"Calm down Leo, you look like your about to start foaming at the mouth." she said. Aparently I wasn't the only one who thought so.

Commander Night glared at her without a word for a few seconds before he began to stalk towards her. Her smile never faltered as he got closer. Actully it just got bigger until she looked like she was about to break down in laughter.

"Dont push me Mika. What are you doing here anyway." he almost growled out.

That was it. Thats why I felt like I should know her. She was one of the First Class SOILDERS, just about as famous as Sepheroth. She was the first woman to join SOILDER, and instantly made a big deal about it. She caused SOILDER to let in more women and became a First class in almost less then two years. The original record was 10 years and she broke it. On top of that she pretty much caused the Presdent to change most of the rules, all because of _her_. She was Mika Yuki-Hana. **(3)**

* * *

Another typical day in the noob training camp. I walk in and the only sound I could here was the noobs working out(thanks to my special hearing). Then everything got quite and I knew what was about to happen next. By the time I got to the door I could hear Leo having one of his rants. Sure enough once I opened the door he was yelling at his victum. Kristof jumped down once we entered the room.

The poor kid had spiky blond hair and light blue eyes from what I could see. He wore black cargo pants, combat boots and no shirt. His head was down and I could actully see a dark and sad cloud hanging over his head. The kid looked a bit thin and had absolutly no muscle. I could guess that his thin frame was due to the poor food they served. Zack told me about the food and would constanly come to me complaining about it.

The other noobs didn't to seem to notice me or Kristof who had run off somewhere. They were all focaused on Leo yelling at the poor kid. Some were snikering and others were trying to hold in their laughter. I actully saw some of them make bets about when he would leave and go back home. As for the kid, he just stood there and took it. It was just depressing. **(4)**

I needed to stop Leo's rant before it got out of hand. I was half expecting Leo to hit the kid or make him cry at any second. I looked around for something I could have used to help me. Before I could find something I felt something paw at my foot, it was Kristof. He had a small sandbag with him and it had small puncture marks where his teeth bit into it. The smart little guy.

I picked up both Kristof and the sand bag. Without a second though I took the sandbag and hurled it towards Leo's head. I bounced off his head stopping him in midrant. His head whipped around, looking around the room before his eyes landed on me. Leo reminded me of a cat that had just been dipped in water. I had to stiffle my laughter as he stalked towards me. His stormy grey eyes were full of anger and he had a scowl on his face once he got close enough.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered too low for the others to hear but not too low fow me.

"Calm down Leo. You look like your about to start foaming at the mouth." I replied. I noticed the kid he was yelling at earlier had stopped looking at the ground and lifted his head. He gave a small smile at my comment and that mademe feel happy.

"Don't push me Mika. What are you doing here anyway." he practicly(sp?) growled at me. It came out more as a statement then as a question.

The kid's eyes had widened at the sound of my name. I had no idea why he seemed so surprised. The others in the room had different expressions on their faces. Some looked a little afraid, most likely about what Leo would do to me. Some were glaring at Leo like they were going to hurt him if he hurt me. The rest were just horrified, and I'm guessing because those who do stand up to Leo didn't last long. Leo must have figured out the others were still watching us and whipped around to face them.

"Get back to work you lot!" he yelled.

All the noobs went back to their training and exercises. The blond kid, who I'm guessing was the 'runt', went back to trying to slice up a fake behemoth. I could see he was depressed and it was preety sad. I'm not too sure what had been said but it obviously affected him badly. Leo had gone a bit too far this time. I lifted my eyes to meet Leo's and glared at him. He seemed a bit surprised at the look on my face. I rarely ever got mad at him.

Leo was just too intimidating to everyone, which is why he was stuck training the noobs. Leo had short black hair cut close to his chin and stormy grey eyes. He had three scars on his face which he liked to show off. One was over his right eye, the second was across the bridge of his nose, and the third was on his left cheek. His arms were bare where he had another scar on his left bicep. Leo wasn't too bad looking, he was actully very handsome. His eyes attacted a lot of attention.

I never knew why his eyes were like that until he showed me a picture of himself before his mako injection. His eyes used to be brown. The mako always changes eye colors or makes them brighter. Most of the time the colors are predictable. The times they're different isn't normal but it's never too much to worry about. I enjoyed my violet eyes although I missed how they used to look.

My eyes actully used to be blue. Not a regular blue or sky blue, but a deep blue that sparkled like gems. I missed my blue eyes but got used to my purple eyes. Even Zacks eyes changed although his were like a rainbow. Before his mako injection his eyes were brown, but watching his eyes after the injection was hilarious. First they turned grey like Leo's, then they turned yellow, then blue, purple, red, orange, brown again, green, pink, and a few more colors I can't think of names for. They settled on blueish green color. It actully suited him.

I was so busy thinking about Zack's reaction to his eyes changing colors I didn't hear what Leo was saying. I snapped back to attention when Leo grabbed the back of my bra strap, pulled it back and let it snap back against my skin. I nearly dropped Kristof in surprise, I glared at Leo in anger and he just smirked.

"I said how are you feeling?" It's no surprise he knew what happened to me. Everyone except the noobs knew what happened.

"I'll be fine but more importanly why were you yelling at that kid?" I asked him. He shugged like he didn't care.

"The kid cant fight. He's the weakest one here. I thought I try yelling at him to get him motivated." he replied. It was Leo's attitude that made him so feared by about half of the people in SOILDER. If he didn't have that temper he wouldn't have the job of training the noobs. He's still one of the best First class SOILDERS.

"How about you deal with the ones slacking off," I said pointing to a group who stared at us, "and I'll handle the kid."

Leo turned to yell at his new victums as I headed towards the kid. He was still slicing away at the sand filled dummy. The blond barely made a dent in it. The outside of the dummies were made to try and resemble the skin of a real monster. He couldn't even get past the tick material that served as the first layer of skin. All that slicing at it really wasnt doing anything.

"Excuse me?" I said tapping on his shoulder. He jumped a bit at the sound of my voice.

"Yes Miss?" he said quitely.

"You dont have to use that Miss or any other formal name." I replied.

"But your-"

"I know who I am. Just pretend I'm some other girl. I'm going to help you out a bit so you wont get yelled at so much by sour puss over there." I said jerking my thumb towards Leo.

He looked over my shoulder to get a look at Leo. He was currently yelling at some new victums who were caught slacking off. They were currently doing laps around the training room. He turned his attention back to as I walked past him towards the dummy. I could catch the other watching me out of the corner of my eye.

"Now then watch and learn Slicer." I said.

I could hear him question the nickname I gave him as I took his sword. I stood in a fighting stance (similar to Zack's) as I prepared to take down the fake behemoth.

* * *

I couldn't believe one of the First class SOILDERS was here and talking to _me_. This was completely unexpected. While I was a bit awestruck she took my sword and stood in front of the dummy. She said to watch and learn as she got into a fighting stance. Then the most surprising thing happened. One second the dummy was in tact and the next it was cut clean in half. Sand spilled out from the dummy and began spread across the floor.

It happened so fast it took me a second to figure out how she did it and to get it in the proper order. First she sidestepped to the side and stabbed it where it's hide would be. The hide of a behemoth isn't a good place to attack since it was the thickest part of the body just like the dummy. But she made it look like she was cutting through butter with a hot knife. Next she pulled out the sword and gave a diagonal cut across the body. It looked like it had no effect until the upper part started to slide to the side and fell off.

She grinned at me as I just staired. I should have expected more from her. She is a First class after all. By now other trainies had stopped what they were doing to watch. That was a bad idea since Mr. Night caught them and made them do laps around the training room. She ignored it all and made a gesture for me to come forward. I did what she wanted and thats when I noticed that the little puppy was sitting on a bench a few feet away. It looked really cute.

"Did you catch what I did?" she asked tearing my gaze away from the puppy.

"Yes, but why?" I asked. "Isn't the hide the toughest part of the body?" She chuckles a bit before she answered.

"Yes but there's a reason for it." she replied. "You'll be learning this soon enough but there's a reason you have to attack monsters certain ways even if they dont make sense."

"Can you explain it to me now?" I asked. I must have sounded completely new because her eyes softened as her smile grew bigger.

"Alright. The hide is the thickest part of a behemoths body." she began. "It is advised for you new recruits now to aim for it because you might get killed in the process. In a real fight, stabbing it in it's hide can distract it for maybe all of ten seconds. If your fast enough it's all you need. Once it's distracted you go in for the kill."

I thought about what she said. She was right. It did make sense and could be very effctive. While I was busy muling this over I felt something slide into my hand. It was the practice sword. She had stood in front of me with her back facing towards me. Her hand was extended back towards me. I trusted her so I took it. She began to drag me to another behemoth shaped dummy. While she was dragging me a though came to mind.

"Excuse me but what did you call me earlier?" I asked.

"Slicer," she said. "because you keep slicing at the dummies. That's gonna be my nickname for you."**(5)**

"Ok," I said. "What do I call you then?"

"What ever you want." she said not looking back.

I took in her profile and tried to remember all the info about her. Trying to fanthom a nickname for her wasn't as easy as I thought. I glaced behind me to see the puppy following close behind. He really was cute. She didn't seem like a dog person at all. She reminded me more of a cat. As I thought about her being surrounded by cats like an old woman she stopped suddenly causing me to bump into her. I tried to back up but she kept a tight grip on my wrist.

She didn't look back as she pulled me towards her. Her back still faced me as I bumped into again. Before I could try to pull away again she took my other arm and wrapped both around her. Im pretty sure that to anyone else it would look like I was hugging her from behind, in a sexual way. This felt very uncomfortable. One minute she was all calm, the next she was being serious, like a kitten.

"You weren't paying attention." she said. The training room got quite pretty fast. I knew we were being watched by everyone including Mr. Night who wasn't yelling at slackers.

"Umm..." I wasn't sure what I was sapposed to say.

"Do I have your attention now?" she asked.

"Y-yes." I stammerd out.

She pulled away and walked towards a rack to get another sword for herself. While she was doing that I tried to rub the blush on my cheeks away. Mr. Night had begun to yell at everyone to get back to work.

"Now then," she said "I want to show you some stances and moves that may be helpful." the playfulness had come back to her eyes.

"Whatever Kitty." I said.

~~~~~~~ about an hour (and several Mika moments) later~~~~~~~

Kitty didn't seem to mind the nickname I gave her. She actully liked it. For the next hour she showed me different stances and moves with a sword. We practiced combos, jabs, slices, and various other moves. Then she had me spar against her. She won but taught me new things everytime. We were both a bit sweaty and tired. Well, at least I was. Nearly everyone had stopped to watch us practice. Mr. Night stopped yelling at everyone and allowed them to watch us.

"Now lets try that behemoth." she said bringing me back to the fake behemoth. "Remember what I taught you. Just imagine it's real."

I did. I took up my own fighting stance and got ready. I really hoped that this training had worked. Remembering what Kitty said, I sidestepped to the right and made a quick, but deep jab to it's hide. It took me a second to pull the sword free before I lifted it above my head. I brought the sword strait down the middle, succesfully slicing it in half. The sand poured out rapidly as the two halves fell to the ground.

Everyone in the large room was quite. The only thing I could hear was my own panting. Then out of nowhere there was, clapping. Mr. Night had begun to clap for me. It was surprsing. He never prasied anyone for any reason. I stood there in shock for a few seconds before Kitty began to clap for me too. As if on cue everyone else slowly began to join in. Some of the guys had looks on their faces that I couldn't read, but I guessed they were surprised. Kitty had stopped clapping and came over to hug me with her little puppy in tow.

"I knew you could do it Slicer!" she beamed.

I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks but carefully tried to hide it. Some of my room mates and a few others came over to give me a pat on the back and congratulate me. As if encouraged some more guys (and the four girl trainies) came to congragulate me. **(6) **Looking past the crowd I could see Kitty talking to Mr. Night about something. It didn't take long for them to notice I was watching them. Kitty began to push the crowd apart with Mr. Night in tow. The crowd got silent as they reached me, eager to see what he would do.

"Nice work Runt." he said patting my head. "Didn't know you had it in you. Thats a pretty messy way to take out one of those suckers but it's quick and gets the job done."

"So I did good?" I knew I sounded like dog wanting to be given a treat but I didn't care.

"To be honest," Kitty began, "you had a bit of troube getting the sword out of the hide. If it was real theres a chance it could have jerked away and pulled the sword from your grip."

"Oh." I siad. I felt a little sad now.

"Dont go looking sad yet I'm not finished!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Sorry." I said rubbing my hand behind my head.

"As I was saying," she started, "If it yanked away it also would have worked in your favor."

"It would have?" I inturpted.

"Yes," said Mr. Night. "The behemoth would have gone beserk. It would have thrown itself against objects trying to get the sword out. It would have harmed itself futher and eventully died of blood loss."

"Then why kill it quickly if it would just accidently kill itself." I asked. Mr. Night raised his eyebrows at being inturpted but Kitty placed a hand on his shoulder before he could reply.

"Even though they can be dangerous, people dont like seeing them rampage around in pain like that. Besides it could hurt someone like that. If attacked someone while it was beserk the results wouldn't be fun." she said.

This all made sense. I've never faced a behemoth before, just the few weak standard dog like monsters outside Nebilhiem(sp?). Im sure I wouldn't make it out of a fight with a real behemoth without a few wounds.

"Besides Runt," Mr. Night said, "Theres more important things to discuss."

"Yes sir?" I asked. I had mixed emotions about this and wasn't sure how to react.

"Our First class SOILDER here wants to train you personaly." he began. "She see's potential in you and thinks you'll make a great addition to SOILDER. Do you accept?"

I could barely think strait. Kitty wanted to train me of all people? The weakest person in this very room? Kitty just smiled at my dumbfound expression. I felt a blush rising to my face again. Great, I knew her for all of about an hour and a half and I have a crush on her. Wait a crush?

"Well Slicer? Do you?" she asked.

"I accept." I blurted out.

"Good!" she yelled. "This is gonna be great!"

Kitty wrapped her arms around my neck and smiled. I felt the blush rise up again. Yeah, I so had a crush on her. I could hear some of the guys behind me snickering. I rubbed my face while she was hugging me in hopes the blush would go away. Mr. Night had called everyone to attention while I was rubbing my face.

"Listen up you lot! What I'm about to say is very important." he said. "When you take the second part of your exam all the First class SOILDERS will be watching you. If your good enough one of them will take you under their wing. If they do you skip being a Third and become a Second. There's a total of 13 First class SOILDERS including myself and her."

He paused to let his words sink in. Kitty was still clinging to me, oblivious to the looks we were getting.

"First class Angeal Hewly and this one" he said jerking his thumb towards Kitty, "have people under their wing right now. As for me I have no one because all of you are currently under my wing. That leaves ten First left. Dont think it will be easy either. They only go after the best of the best. They pick on average one or two of you out of a group of a hundred. Thats only every few years. So if you want to be reconized you better shape up and get your asses in gear."

With that said everyone eagerly went back to training. They all seemed motivated by his speech. Kitty had let go of me the same time I felt something paw at my foot. I looked to see Kitty's little dog, he looked a bit bigger then I thought he was. I picked him up and held him at eye level. He was even cuter up close. He had a few wolfish features in him that made him look more wild then a dog should.

"That's because he's a wolf, not a dog." Kitty said.

Shit. I must have said that out loud. The wolf pup licked my nose happily.

"He likes you." said Kitty.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Kristof." she said. He barked at the sound of his name.

I couldn't help but smile at him. He was way too cute. I wanted to steal him from her. Kitty took my hand and pulled me towards a door on the other side of the room. She pulled me through hallway after hallway, room after room, until we came to the dorm rooms. I'm not sure why the place was set up like dorm rooms, that part was never explained properly.

"Hurry and put a shirt on. Were gonna celebrate." she said.

"Celebrate what?" I asked.

"Your success. Now hurry and get dressed." she demanded.

I just shrugged and jogged to the second door at the end of the hall. I opened the door to the familiar mess of clothes and old pizza boxes scarrtered across the floor. I made my way over to my bed and set the little Kristof down on my bed. He waited patiently while I put on a light blue short sleved shirt. I picked him up again and ran out to Kitty so we could go celebrate.

* * *

_~~~~~ back to when Mika was in the hospital wing~~~~~_

_"Professer Hojo sir!"_

_I truned away from my work with a scowl on my face. Not to many people dared to inurpt me while I was working. Those who did normally ended up as my experiments._

_"What do you want?" I snapped. "Cant you see I'm busy here?"_

_"Yes sir but theres something you should know." the fool who interpted me handed me a folder with the name Mika Yuki-Hana on the tab._

_I flipped though it not realy caring. The girl was a Second class SOILDER not even worth the time. She was sick and had lung cancer which was odd. As I kept flipping through the folder it became more intresting. It seemed she didn't recive enough mako in her system and was prone to side effects. I would like to experiment on this girl. She would be a very valuable test subject. Besides I always wanted to experiment on a SOILDER with mako injected in their bloodstream._

_"Professer?" The fool was just standing there watching me._

_"This girl could be valuable to me. Find a way to get her here quickly!"_

_"For what sir?" he asked._

_"To experimanet on!" I yelled. "She wont be around for long and I want her for an experiment! Posion her, knock her unconcoius I dont care. I just want her here alive to experiment on. Now figure something out beofre you become part of my next project."_

_The young fool ran away quickly. This would be a very exciting project there had been one thing I have wanted to try, I just havent had someone that would live long enough for see if my experiment would actully last. Even if she wasn't like the other SOILDERS she would be very useful to me. I just needed a way to get her here. I turned my attention back towards my current experiment and continued my work._

* * *

It's been about two weeks since I met Slicer and began to train him. He took a strong liking to Kristof and always got happy when he saw him. I introduced him to Angeal and he laughed at my nickname. Within a a few hours everyone began calling me Mika the Kitty. They said it fit because of my spiky hair. It grew about three inches longer in the past two weeks. I havent introduced him to Zack or Aerith yet. They've been to 'busy' to meet him.

Sepheroth didn't really care and Genesis gave me a weird look which I ignored. I should have paid attention to it though because he thought we were dating. So just to mess with his head Slicer and I (mostly me, Slicer just said yes very eagerly) came up with a plan to get him. We waited until he was heading to his room to get him. We took a shortcut and got there before he did.

When he opened the door he saw Slicer and me on his bed making out. It was going to be fake but we had to make it look real so Slicer and I actully kissed. To add to the effect My pants and his shirt were on the floor. We messed up the sheets and out hair to make it look it's been going on for a while. Genesis freaked out because he though Slicer was 'deflowering' me. His scream attracted Reno who was on his way to Genesis' room looking for me.

He thought Slicer was going rape me and yellled at him for stealing my first kiss. I admit that was my first kiss but I didn't want that to be made public. After a very embarssing hour Slicer and I had gotten our clothes and slipped away. Slicer was blushing like crazy and tried to distance himself a bit. The next day the two red heads had caught me and pulled me away for some two on one time or in other words punishment. I dont want to ever talk about what they did. I told no one, not Angeal, not Slicer, not Aerith, and not Zack. Although he tried to kill Genesis to find out what happened.

In the end I played two pranks on them while they werent aware.

* * *

Somewhere in the lobby the red haired general had just returned from a short mission taking out some monsters in the slums of Midgar. Genesis was tired and could go for a much needed nice relaxing shower. As he made his was to his room he was unaware of the two people following close behind him. A spiky haired blond and a spicky haired girl, quitely stalked him as he made his way through the SOILDER building. The boy was a little afraid of what was to come, while the girl had a evil smirk on her face. As Genesis made his way through the hallways he became suspicious that Mika and Cloud were following him.

He whipped around to see that there was no one in the hallway. They had ducked behind a corner and were safely hidden. He was still wary but he continued on his way. Mika and Cloud, or now known as Kitty and Slicer, had come out of their hiding spot. They continued to follow him as he made his way through the building. Each time the red haired general turned around expecting to see them they managed to find a place to hide. Behind carts, corners, sofas, people, and whatever else was there.

Once the general was safely behind his door he felt relieved. He stripped on his way to his giant bathroom. Once inside he turned on the water and waited for it to warm up a bit before entering. Once in his shower he pulled his laminated copy of Loveless that he liked to read. He opened the book to where he left off as he began to pour shampoo onto his hair.

He began to read as he messaged the soapy cherry scented fluff into his red locks. While he was reading the words on the pages seemed to start merging together. Eventully they began to become an inky black mess all over the page. As the general stared at the page dumbfounded the pages slowly started to fall out of the book. The general gave out a high pitched girlish scream as his beloved book became waterlogged and fell apart in front of his eyes.

In his panic the soap from his hair slid into his eyes and blinded him. He screaded once again as he tried to get out of the shower, only to slip and fall. He made it out of the shower all right, until he slid and hit his head on the sink. The soap was still in his eyes as he sat curled up on the floor. He clucthed the remains of his beloved book to his chest and cried.

Little did he know that earlier while he was gone his book was replaced. Kitty and Slicer had snuck into his room and took away his laminated copy. They replaced it with and old and very fragil copy. Just outside his door the sound of hysterical laugher could be heard from the two trouble makers themselves. Kitty was cluching the laminated copy of Loveless to her chest. The two then ran off hand in hand to plan their next attack. Their next attack being on another certain red head.

* * *

Sometime later that night another red head was asleep in his bed. Curled up next to him was a little wolf pup, which he had stolen from Mika. The wolf pup began to stir as he heard noises outside the door. Little Kristof quitely made his way to the door to let his master know that Reno was asleep. He left out the small dog door that was installed sometime over a week ago.

Once outside he gave a small bark, meant only for his master. She heard it and made her way quitely down the hall with the blond in tow. He was afraid of being caught but came along anyway. Kitty used her spare key to open the door while Slicer picked up Kristof. The two tiptoed their way into the room and towards the king sized bed. They arrived at either side of the bed, the sleeping Reno was none the wiser.

Kitty pulled out a small rectangular black object. Slicer gently set down Kristof and took out his. They turned on their little divices and got to work.

~~~~ ten minutes later~~~~

Kitty and Slicer had finished their work. They now poundly stood over what used to be a red headed Reno. They now stood over a bald Reno while trying to hold in thier laughter. They brushed up the remaining hair on his pillow and quitely exited the room. Little Kristof was left behind much to Slicer's disapointment to keep up appearences. Kitty and Slicer took their razors and retrieted back to their base, or Kitty's room, to get some rest. If Kitty knew Reno he would chase them all over the place with a gun.

Slicer spent the night sleeping in Kitty's room. He sugested sleeping on her floor or her couch but Kitty wouldn't hear it. She made him sleep in the bed with her because it felt lonely without Kristof. Slicer was uncomfortable with it but didn't want to hurt her feelings. It was a very sweet sight. Sweet enough for a silver haired general to sneak into her room and snap a picture of Slicer sleeping in Kitty's bed with his arms around her. It was also sweet enough to be blown up and placed all over the SOILDER headquaters to be seen by everyone except Zack... Because Mika burned every poster before the Puppy laid eyes on them.

* * *

**1. Pretty much and exact outfit like Cloud's in Advent Children. If you've seen the girl version of his outfit you know how it looks. It's just without that random peice of fabric around his waist.**

**2. I havent played that many final fantasy games and the only ff7 version I have broke so I'm going by what they use in FFX there. The last one I made up but it's like double cast which lets you use two black magic spells at once. Bio pretty much posions an enemy, and can sometimes cause confusion, beserk, darkness, silence, magic and power breaks and sometimes slow depending on the enemy. Most used by bosses or giant monsters or fiends.**

**3. I had no idea what to type for this paragraph. This was the best thing I could come up with. Not a very good description about Mika's reputation but it was the best I could think of.**

**4. I didn't mean to make Cloud wimpy but it it helps build their relationship. Same when Leo was yelling at him. It made me sad typing that but I wanted to express how tough Leo is on all of them.**

**5. I got the name Slicer from some guys Youtube video's. He has this mini orange and blue knife that he threatens to cut people with and he calls it Slicer. It looks like it came from a playdough or minibake oven set. It's really cute. Also Mika never found out what Cloud's real name was. She does not find out what it is for a while.**

**6. Yes like I said in my horrible description of Mkia from Cloud SOILDER has allowed more girls to join. For now theres only four trying out. Cher and Solange most likely joined after Zack and Mika graduated.**

**If anyone is wondering, the punishment Mika recived from Reno and Genesis was a video. They tied her to a chair and made her watch the mericle of life. So yeah she watched women give birth while tied to a chair and her eyes were taped open. This went on for hours. Yes I enjoyed Mika and Clouds pranks. The names Slicer and Kitty will only be used when they are around each other.**

**That's a lot of numbers. I'll try not to make a habit out of the number thing. The next chapter will be a halloween special. After that an authors note and will explain some things. It's pretty much a Q&A and a bit of spoiler alerts. After that it will go back to the story. Make sure to read it. It explains some important things.**


	7. Happy late Halloween!

**Happy Halloween! Even though this is late. Sorry if it's a bit rushed near the end but I was running out of ideas. Plus this is already late and I didn't want it TOO late. Warning: there is a long authors note explaining some things at the end. Other then that this is the longest chaper I have done. Word count: 11, 161.**

* * *

After spending nearly all my time shopping, cutting, and measuring my costume finished at last. I figured today would be a normal day at SOILDER but I was wrong. Genesis came busting through my room three weeks earlier with two invitations. One was for me and the second for a guest of my choice. I nearly ripped my hair just decideing what I was going to wear. In case anyone was wondering I was going to a ball at the President's building for a party. It wasn't going to by any ordinary party though. It was a Masquerade. Complete with mask, tuxedos, and pretty dresses to go with whatever the girls felt like dressing up as.

It was unexpected but the whole reason for the party was for an anniversy(sp?). This was the 100th year that SOILDER has been around. Ironiclly it's been was created on Halloween. I've never been to one before because I wasn't required to go. It was optional for Seconds, but First had no choice but to go. It gave off a good impression and showed we weren't all that bad. Genesis had begged me to with him for the past year but I refused. He figured I was going to another Halloween party. Actully I went trick or treating with Zack but I'll never tell him that.

I had about four hours until the party started. It was from about seven p.m. to one a.m. I had already given out my extra invitation to Slicer. The noobs weren't allowed to come because they still didn't understand the true meaning of SOILDER or something like that. Barely any of Thirds were allowed to come. Just the ones who were considered the best. Unless they were invited by a Second or First they couldn't come anywhere near the building.

He accepted my invitation happily, excited that he could go. I would have brought Aerith but Zack beat me to the punch. That resulted in me actully punching him because he knew I was going to ask her. For our costumes I wanted to be a dark fairy but Aerith wanted to be a fairy too. She decided to be a regular earth fairy and there went my idea. Well not really but it would be weird if we were both faries normal or not. I still managed to make both of our costumes in the nick of time. She had a long dress that would make people stop and stare.

Her costume was a beatiful sparkling green dress complete with a pair of small sparkly wings. There were parts of light blue, brown, pink, and a few different shades of green. The top looked like silk and had mutiple shades of green jewels along the hem. It flared out at the bottem where it had the mutiple many different colors to go with the earth. Her mask was a light green with small leaves, flowers and music notes on it.

Her hair would be down and in waves. The wings and mask would have glitter along the edges and along other lines. She would really shine at the party. To top it off she would have green flower shapped earrings and a headband. It looked like it was woven out of vines and leaves and flowers topped it off. The whole thing was silver that matched her outfit. The headband was more like a crown so she looked like a fairy princess. She even got a wand to make the costume better.

I still managed to come up with something and told Slicer. He knew what I planned to wear and he agreed to find a somewhat matching outfit. It took me forever to find a theme for our costumes. I thought about having a vampire theme but I'm not a vampire fan. Genesis suggested I be a werewolf instead because one of the werewolf colors was purple. I'm not sure how purple was a werewolf color. I think he just meant it was a female werewolf color. Even though I love purple I chose not to be a werewolf either.

Zack suggested I be a phenox and Genesis agreed. He even knew where I could get some firey looking red wings. I thought about it but chose not to. Angeal suggested a zombie or a egyptian princess. I turned down both idea's. After much debate with the guys I also declinded the skeleton bride, witch, ninja(not sure how that came up), grimm reaper, cat, and santa themes. I came up with my decision talking to Slicer about the weather. He meationed it being cold after I gave him invitaion and I got my idea.

I ran my hand through my now long hair. It grew back faster then I thought it would. It was now down the middle of my back. I'm hopeing it's because of the mako energy that made it grow so fast. Genesis confirmed it and I felt so relieved. Khristof was watching me on my bed. I knew he wanted to come and I would bring him. I took off his regular collar and put on a blue one that matched my theme. I wasn't sure if it would work but I used materia on him to change his fur color. It worked much to my surprise. He looked just as cute with white fur as he did with black fur.

I left Khristof on my bed next to a black bag that held my costume as I took a shower. I let my hair down so it frammed my face instead of slicking it back like a lion's. after washing it about three times I squeezed a base onto my hair then rubbed it in. After a minute or two I washed it out and squeezed another chemical onto it. After about ten minutes I washed the second chemical out. I stood under the hot spray watching the bubbles dissapear down the drain. I hoped the hair dye would work, if not I had a wig in my closet just in case. I rubbed my hair a few more times just to make sure there wasn't any leftover and stepped out.

I dried off quickly and checked the time. There was still about three and a half hours left before the party started. I had two hours until Slicer came to escourt me to the ball as he liked to call it. Slicer decided he would take me out to choose a bouquet of flowers for my costume and for a bag or something to keep Khristof in. I didn't mind him walking around, I just didn't want anyone to step on him as they danced. Reno would come to pick us up after that and give us a ride there. It would take about thirty minutes to pick us up and to go back, so we would be about thirty minutes late.

As long as we got there it wouldn't matter how late we were. Once I finished drying off and had my my bra and underwear on I took a look at my hair. It was dyed the perfect color. It didn't stand out as much but I wasn't worried. Slicer was going to bring me hair spray to help it stand out more. Not the kind he used to make it stand up but just to bring out the color. I still had two diffucult task to do in less then three hours. I did a few practice runs and it took me nearely four hours to get it all right. I was getting faster at it so I wasn't too worried.

I started with the dress. It had mutiple strapes that had to be tied in certain places. I wanted to get it done in time but I took my time to make sure it was done right. It took me about a half hour before I was sure it was on right. I strapped up my high heals and slipped them on. Now it was time for the most diffucult part. My hair and makeup. I could have done them first but I didn't want to risk messing up my hair or getting makeup on my dress. I could still get a smidge on my dress but at least it wouldn't be a lot.

I started on my hair first. I combed it out and managed to make my naturally straight hair wavy. That also took me about thirty minutes since my hair was so untamed. I now had an hour to do my makeup. I started with powder to make my skin look pale. Picking up my eyeliner and other things I got to work on my eyes. They had a beatiful shadow look to them that brought out my eyes. I topped it of with blue colored contacts that I had bought earlier today. I then used black eyeliner to outline my lips. Blue lipstick on the bottem lip and white lipstick on the top lip complete it.

Picking up a small brush I applied a bit of blue glitter to my cheeks. Once that was done I took my extra make up pencils and drew a large design over my left eye. I also drew a few more of the design on my somewhat exposed chest and around my other eye. I let the makeup sit for about fourty minutes to make sure it wouldn't rub off before putting on my mask. During that time I painted my nails and toenails to match my dress. I also added a few more dye to my hair that could just be sprayed on. It was applied to the tips of my hair and bangs.

I gave Kristof some food whie I waited for the makeup to be done. As he ate I put on a choker to match the designs on my face and a few silver bracelets. I opened a small box on my nightstand to pull out a pair of earrings. They matched my theme and glittered in the light when I held them. Kristof finished eatting and had jumped back onto my bed while I was putting the earrings in. I turned to him and held out my hands as if asking him what he thought. HE barked happily and wagged his tail. I'm guessing that was his way of saying he liked it.

I looked into my full length mirror and my jaw nearly dropped. I already knew my costume would attract attention when I put it on. The other three First classes all nearly had nose bleeds just seeing me wearing the dress. When I put on the makeup they were all speeceless. This was the first time I wore both the dress and the makeup together. I had to admit I did look amazing. I could hardly believe I was looking at myself. It felt like looking at a completely different person. Slicer would be so surprised once he got a look at me.

Just for the heck of it I twirled around in the mirror to get a good look at myself. My phone rang while I admiring myself. Yes it was a very selfish move but I couldn't help it. I checked my phone and reconized the number from the front desk in the lobby. I sat down on my bed, careful not to mess up my dress, and answered.

"Ms. Yuki-Hana, theres a young man here who says he's a friend of yours. He also says he's here to take you to the ball."

"He is. Just tell him where my room is and send him up." I replied. I hung up without another word.

Slicer was here, right on time I might add. I only had about five minutes to get my last minute things before he made it to my room. I reapplied a bit more make up along my arms and chest. Although I didn't want to I managed to cover up the tattoo on my chest with a lot of makeup. After makeing sure the dark tattoo couldn't be seen through the light foundation I attempted to even it out.

There was a knock at my door while I was making a new design. After carefully adding the finishing touches I checked my makeup and applied a bit more before walking towards the door. I took a deep breath and opened it. Slicer stood in the doorway wearing a white suit made of silk. He had a deep blue velvet tie with a small design to go with our theme. The buttons on his suit and cuffs were black along with his shoes. His spikey hair was a little tamed and not as spikey.

Slicer's hair was also dyed the same color as mine. He also came up with the idea to spaypaint the tips of his hair, or better yet his spikes. The only difference was that his hair shone even in the low lighting of my room. His skin also looked pale and he held out a corsage for me in his hand. It was a white rose with a small blue ribbon tied around it. The tips of the petals were blue. It had a thicker blue and white ribbon to slip over my wrist. In his other hand he held a small bag most likely the hairspray to make my hair shine too.

When he looked at me his jaw hung open. He looked, well speeceless. I gave him a little smile and held out my hands to either side of me.

* * *

"Well, what do you think?" Kitty asked.

What did I think? I thought she looked like a goddess. Her hair was all white with deep blue tips just like mine. Her hair fell around her shoulders in waves. Her bangs barely touched her eyes. They were shadowed different shades of blue. Around her eyes were snowflakes, one large one around her left and smaller ones around her right. They were the right size to be seen around and under her mask. Her lips were covered in blue and white and they were outlined in black. Kitty's skin was also pale and I could tell it was from power from the large poder puff in her room. It would have been easier to use body spraypaint. Her cheeks had a light blue sparkly blush on them.

I noticed her nails were painted blue and tiny snowflakes were painted on them. She also wore deep blue contacts. I could tell she put a lot of time into this. I felt like I barely had to do anything. I just got fitted for a suit and spraypainted myself. Her shoes were high healed from what I could tell. Behing her I could see Kristof sitting on her bed staring at me. I was too focased on her to care.

Her dress was the most stunning thing I've ever seen. I knew she was making her dress but I didn't expect her to go all out. Her arms were bare save for the silver bracelets. She wore a corset style dress that looked like it should have made her breast look smaller. It made them stand out more then they already did. The corset was deep blue and white in the middle. The white was in a large V shape and clearly it was made of silk. The blue was made out of velvet with a bit of glitter on it.. Blue strings went in criss-cross patterns across her chest.

Her dress flared out a little around her waist. It looked to be made out of silk. It too had different shades of blue but it was mostly dark blue. There were snowflakes along the skirt that sparkled when she moved. The most beatiful thing about her... I mean her dress was the bells she had attached to the dress. They were tiny but still made noise, a soft ringing that was sweet and gentle. The bells were in a V shape along her corset.

"Y-you look g-great..." I stuttered. Man what was wrong with me?

Kitty moved to the side so I could come in. I've seen her room before but It still amazed me. Once I went into the room I turned back to face her with the can for her hair in my hand. Thats when I noticed there were blue chains along her hips and hanging freely at her sides, about six all around. The bells on Kitty's dress jingled as she came and carefully sat in a chair. She turned her back to me. Thats when I remember I had the can in my hair. I carefully began to spray her hair.

It took about all of two minutes. Once I was done her hair shone just like mine. While the spray dyed I pulled out a second can and began shaking it. Mika had gotten up and taken a look in a mirror. I could see her reflection in the mirror, she looked really happy. I was so caught up at looking at her I forgot the can in my hand. The can was starting to make noise signiling it was done. Kitty turned back towards me eyeing the can.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's for your skin." I replied. "It makes the paleness last longer. And cause it to stand out more."

She still eyed the can but calmly walked over to me. She held her breath and closed her eyes. I began on her face, and then to her neck and chest once she removed her choker. I didnt notice it before, along with the fake tattoo on her breat where the pawprint used to be. I tried not to stare while I worked but it was diffucult. She took off her bracelets and I began on her arms. I was very careful not to get any on her dress. Once I finished I told her it was ok to breath.

She turned and looked back in the mirror. She looked ghostly pale now instead of slightly pale. The powder barely covered her tan, with the bodyspray it made her look amazing. Her hair had dried now and still shone in the light. She was beatiful, although I wished she didn't have to wear the mask. It would cover up her face. Her skin was dry in about a minute and it began to shine too. I touched her arm lightly without reliazing it. I didn't even notice when I walked over to her, only that I was there. She turned around to look at me.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just checking to make sure it's dry. Dont want it to rub off if you get touched." I lied. I just needed an excuse.

She touched her arm and nothing came off. She even rubbed it a few times to make sure, but there was still nothing. She smiled confirming that I wasn't lying. It was once she smiled that I noticed the bodyspray had caused her makuup to stand out too. The blue snowflakes on her skin more then anything else. I put both cans in the small bag and pulled out a small dog harness. She eyed it questionaly.

"I thought we were going to go out and look for a bag." she said. "Why the harness?"

"We weren't the only ones," I replied "who wanted to put their pets in bags this Halloween. I thought I could surprise you and get the bag before I came here. But all the stores were out."

She gave a small smile as she looked at it. It was a plain light blue harness, adjustable so Kristof would fit into it. Kitty stood on her toes and kissed my cheek lightly. I could feel the heat rising to my face and tried to cover it with my hand. She didn't notice and thanked me for the harness. After Kristof was secure I put back on her bracelets and the corsage I got her. Once finished I held out my arm for her. She linked her arm with mine while the other hand held Kristof's harness. I led her out the building with a smile on my face, as we went to get out last minute things.

* * *

Although Slicer got me the harness for Kristof he managed to find a regular purse for me. I had a tiny one with me, holding my makeup and some gil. Slicer held both of our mask in his pockets along with our phones and emergency materia. The bag he found was large enough to hold Kristof and had a adjustable strap. It was blue and had snowflakes falling down into a big pile of snow printed on the front. It even had the first part of my last name printed on it along with some other word. The clerk told me it meant beatiful. Slicer proved him wrong by useing a translator on his phone. It meant princess. Either way I got it. Slicer chose to pay for it like a gentleman. I just placed my phone and mask in my purse along with the mini one. I also took the materia as being the only one qualified to actully have it.

Our next trip was to a florast to get my flowers. People stopped to stare at us as we walked by. I bet we looked quite the sight, like a snow prince and princess. Once at the florast Slicer managed to get twelve of the same type of rose he used for my corsage. Slicer took the largest rose and held it out for me. I took out a second and held it for Slicer to put on his suit. After cutting off part of the stems I handed the one to Slicer. I took small parts of my hair and tyed it in a loose knot around the second flowers short stem.

The bouquet had thick blue and white ribbons with snowflakes (that were attached to the purse) and tied them around the bouquet. They also had the same type of bells I put on my dress tied around it. They came with the flowers along with a big blue ribbon. I cut off parts of the ribbon and carefully tied it around Kristof's collar. I'm not the dress up your pet type but it fit and he didn't seem to mind it. Nor did he ming being in the purse next to a few other items.

Once I finished I felt something light fall onto my head. I turned around to see Slicer smiling and holding a small hand mirror. He placed a fake tiara on my head. It was silver and had blue gems in it that formed a snowflake. It was so beatifully done that it looked real, but with my enhanced eyesight I could tell it was fake. But I could barely tell. He too, wore something on his head: a small crown. It was similar to mine. I smiled back at him and thanked him.

I called Reno to pick us up once we were ready. While we waited we chatted about random things, how we thought the party would be, who would be there, the costumes. Slicer kept saying how excited he was because he got to go. Then he told me a story about how the other noobs acted to his ticket. A few got pissed, some were happy for him, one or two tried to destroy the ticket, the rest just plain didnt talk to him. I felt kinda bad once hearing about it. I knew he was already being hassled by the others for being the weakest, now they had more reason to mess with him. If they did he would have me to back him up.

Reno pulled up a little earlier then expected. He had on his usual Turk uniform only now he wore a red phenox mask. He held open the door of his car for us and bowed. When he stood back up he got a look at us and nearly panicked.

"Holy shit! You guys look amazing, yo!" he yelled. Everyone on the street stopped to watch us.

"Thanks Reno." I said.

He ushered the two of us inside the car and shut the door. Rude was in the front seat but he turned to us once we got in. His mask was plain grey, it was shapped like a Phantom of the Opera mask. He too was speechless until Reno hit him.

"Dont they look amazing?" Reno yelled in Rude's ear.

"Very. Like a snow king and queen. Where are your mask?" he asked

"We have them." Slicer replied. Rude eyed him causiosly

"So your this Slicer that Mika had taken under her wing." he said. It was more of a statement then a question.

"Yes I am. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her tonight." he said placing an arm around my shoulders.

"Good." he grunted. He turned back around and sat with his arms crossed.

"Put your masks on, yo." Reno said buckling up. "We'll be there in twenty minutes or less."

Slicer and I tied our mask around our faces. Mine only went to my eyes and halfway to my nose. It was blue with a snowflakes along it. Slicer's was the same only his extended to the tip of his nose. Mine had snowflakes that looked like they were blowing in the wind. His just looked like it was falling normally. Both of our mask sparkled in the light and were tied with dark blue ribbons. We buckled up and waited to arrive at the party.

I soon found out why Reno got here so fast, he drove like a mad man. Slicer and I were thrown back into the leather seats as far back as we could go. I held onto his hand for dear life as we zoomed by, barely making lights and cutting off traffic. By the time we arrived we were only ten minutes late and everyone had arrived. Rude mentioned that we were the last on the list to the man holding a clipboard by the front doors. He let us through.

From there Reno and Rude had to meat up with the President's son who was here to represent him. They gave us directions on how to the ballroom and left. We made out way just fine and could hear the voices and light music coming from the ballroom. They failed to mention to get there you had to walk down a giant flight of stairs to get there. I could see the people and there costumes. Many women chose the vampire theme. None of them wore white so I knew I would stand out.

The room was beatifuly decorated. Orange and black streemers covered the ceiling and smoke from fog machines covered the floor. It reached up to everyones knees and gently swirled around as people moved. The room was slightly dark but had candles lit up all around the room. A giant chandelier hung in the middle of the room giving off soft hues of light. From my distance I could see Reno and Rude standing next to a man with blond hair. His back was towards me so I couldn't see his face.

A bright flash of green drew my attention and I saw Aerith. She was standing next to Zack chatting away with the three First class generals. Her dress did sparkle but not by much, the colors were also a bit faded. She must have washed it or something because it should be shinier then that. A little ways away I could see Leo talking to Lazard. Both were in suits and wearing mask of course. I wasn't ready for this. I'm not the grab your attention type of person. I knew I attracted a lot of attention because of my costume, the last thing I wanted was to be the center of attention. I felt Slicer's hand on my shoulder.

"You ok, Kitty?" he asked.

"Fine, just bracing myself." I replied.

"For what?"

"For the long walk down." I said sadly.

"Let's just go." he said. "I dont want everyone to stare at us either but lets get it over with."

"Alright." I replied. I took a few deep breaths and then relaxed.

"Ready Princess Kitty?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Sir Slicer." I said.

Slicer held out his arm and I lightly gripped it. Kristof gently touched my arm with his little nose to comfort me. I'm guessing he didn't lick me because of all the stuff on another deep breath we began the long horrible trek down the steps. As we decended I could already feel the eyes on us and hear the gasp. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Aerith and I were talking to Genesis, Angeal, and Sepheroth when the whispers started. We were having discussions about our mask and how they actully related to us at first. Angeal had a white angel mask on, and Genesis was wearing a black and red vampire type of mask. Sepheroth wore a grey and white catlike mask (that plus his eyes was hilarious) and I wore a dark green mask. Mine was to have sometype of forest on it to go with Aerith's theme. Somehow (according to Angeal) it made me look a bit more like a puppy. I'm not sure how and I didn't want to know why.

Aerith's costume had surprised me a bit. I figured she wear white or pink because of her flowers. Instead she shown up in a stunning dress in many different shades of green. It had a small glimmer to it which I thought could have been a bit brighter. It looked a bit worn though, and she admitted that she had washed it even though Mika warned her not to. It confused me why until she told me that Mika made both of their dresses.

I asked her what Mika was wearing but she replied that she didn't know. The others knew but refused to tell me. Sepheroth also mentioned that Mika would be comeing alone. At the mention of that Aerith wanted to drag me off so we could go get her and I agreed completely. I know we haven't seen each other in a while but she still didn't deserve having to come here all alone. Before we could however, people started to gasp and whisper.

Then they began to increase in volume. Everyone started to get a better look at a couple just arriveing. I ignored it and continued with our conversation like nothing ever happened. The light music that filled the room falttered and finially stopped. I ignored everything and tried to stick to the conversation. It was diffucult though because the surprised sounds of everyone else was overpowering our voices.

"Who is that girl?"

"Look at her dress!"

"That guy is lucky as hell to score a chick like that!"

"Who's that she's with?"

"She looks like a pincess!"

"Aren't their costumes just to die for?"

"I wish I had a dress like that!"

"Have you ever seen such a cute couple?"

"It's like a prince and princess made from the snow."

I ignored everyone else as I tried to stick to the topic on hand. Aerith and I were trying to figure out where we were going to get Mika if she hasn't left yet. Genesis suddenly dropped out of the conversation and looked up, at what I'm guessing was, the couple everyone was talking about. A smile suddenly spread out on his face as he looked on happily. I tried snapping my fingers to get his attention but to no avail.

Sepheroth looked up too and a smile broke out on his face. Angeal had done the same. All three generals looked a bit awestruck at what they saw. Around this point the head musian continued to play where he left off. The others slowly continued to play along. Aerith turned around and gasped, she began to tug on my sleve willing me to turn and look.

I still tried to get the other's attention back to the conversation. Didn't they know that getting to Mika was more important then looking at some new couple? The crowd started to bunch together trying to get a better look over someone else's head. I ended up getting seperated from everyone else. Somehow I was now near the front of the group with my back towards the stairs. Everyone else in the room was still talking about them.

"Look at that cute little dog!"

"I wish I was with that guy..."

"Look at their hair! It's so beatiful!"

"They look so cold."

"They look so calm and collected!"

"They look like royalty."

"Dont they look adorable?"

"Isn't that guy hot?"

"She reminds me of Cinderella."

"Isn't that the new First class SOILDER?"

"It is! It's Mika!"

At the mention of her name I whipped around to see if it was true. It was, and it was the most stunning thing I've ever seen. Mika's skin and hair almost shone in the low light of the room. Her dress was many different shades of blue with a somewhat white corset. The dress actully had bells, real bells, going down it and hanging from her waist. She had a giant snowflake design over where the tattoo on her chest used to be. Snowflakes also decorated her face and mask, along with all of her jewelry. I easily reconized Kristof riding in the bag handing from her shoulder.

She truely did at that moment, look like a princess. But that was when I noticed the guy desending the stairs with her. He was in a simple black tux with a shirt, tie, and mask to match her dress. He had spiky white hair with blue tips and plae skin that also seemed to glow in the light. Both Mika and the Stranger looked nervous at all the attention they were getting. As they neared the end of the stairs, the fog began to swirl at their ankles. It settled at their knees when they ended at the bottem of the steps.

The music stopped playing as they made it to the bottem. They stood there for a minute,s till looking nervous at all the attention. Everyone staired at them waiting to see what they would do. It was quite for a moment before anyone actully did anything. Before I could get to them Leo Night, my old commander, stepped forward to greet them. Not long after he did the music began to play again. It was a sweet song, but had a bit of a chill to it. Just like Mika's costume. Aerith had arrived next to me while I was stairing at them. She too was caught up in the way they looked.

"She looks amazing! Don't you think so Zack?" she asked.

"Yeah, she does." I said quitely.

"Come on," she said as she pulled me towards her. "lets go say hi. I dont think I've ever met that guy before."

Sepheroth, Genesis and Angeal had joined them as well and they began to look less nervous. Once we reached them the stranger with Mika eyed me warily. I'm sure I've never met the guy before, so why did he look like he didn't like me?

"Hey, Mika!" I said patting her on the head.

"Zack! Nice to see you!" she grinned. Aerith had come up to hug her too.

"You look amazing Mika!" she exclaimed.

"I can see you washed the dress," she said, "although I warned you not to."

"Sorry about that." Aerith replied while rubbing the back of her head. "I spilled some juice on it."

Mika just shook her head with a smile on her face. I took this time to sneak another glance at the stranger. He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned his head until his eyes met mine. He was stilll giving me this weird look until Mika lightly hit him on the back of the head.

"I dont think either of you have met each other have you?" she asked.

"No." both of us replied.

"Well then, Puppy this is Slicer." she said gesturing to the guy she was with. "Slicer this is Puppy."

"Your name is Slicer?" I asked him.

"Yes." he replied.

"What kind of name is that?" I asked.

"It's my name." he replied glaring at me.

"Play nice you two." Aerith spoke up next to me.

This guy really made me uncomfortable. I was vagely aware of the music coming to a stop and everyone applauding. This 'Slicer' was still watching me, even though he must of thought I wouldn't have notice. Before I could say anything The band started up again with a simple tune that I couldn't name. It was a song made for everyone to dance. Mika took Slicer's arm and led him to the middle of the room to dance, but not before handing Kristof to Angeal who was going to sit this out.

Sepheroth decided to sit out too despite all the girls begging him to dance. Genesis decided to dance with and older woman who he seemed very friendly with **(Angeal's mom). **I took Aerith's hand and led her out onto the dance floor along with everyone else. Everyone else had started dancing to a simple waltz. I'm so glad that Mika managed to fit in teaching me how to dance along with making her costume. Also with training her new friend trying to get into SOILDER. Although I've never met him I would have liked to thank him for keeping Mika company while I was gone.

* * *

I didn't like the way the guy with the spiky black hair looked at her. Something about that look just set me off. A part of me wanted to go back and punch him, but the other part didn't want to upset Kitty. I'm so whipped, and I've known her for a month and a half.

"You ok there?" I heard her ask.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked her. She raised an eyebrow and made a face before answering.

"Well you didn't seem happy and you were making faces." she said.

"I'm fine Kitty." I replied. "Now lets dance, the music's starting."

I reconized the moves to be some kind of waltz. It seemed a bit different then a normal one though. The music was soft and elegant, most likely something you would here from a few hundred years ago. I placed on hand on Kitty's shoulder and placed the other on her waist.

While we were dancing the crowd shifted and exchanged partners. I danced with some random girl in a bright pink dress before the crowd shifted again. Kitty ended back up in my arms. She was smiling at what I could guess was her excitement at being here. We danced in silence before I switched partners again. This time I danced with the old woman who was dancing with Genesis. From what I could see she was dancing with Reno, I think. The song ended after a few minutes and everyone clapped. Another song, similar to the first began and I continued to dance with the older woman. She seemed pretty nice, I actully enjoyed dancing with her.

After a while the crowd shifted once again before I ended up with a new girl. I danced with her until the song ended, it was shorter then the first. The next song started up almost instantly. It was a bit fatser and required a lot of twirling. All around me I could see bright flashes of color from the women's dresses as they kept up with the music. As I danced I caught a flash of a fimilair dress before My sight was cut off again by the many colors. The last thing I saw was Kitty's smile before her cousin Aerith ended up in my arms.

* * *

After getting seperated from Slicer I ended up with a stranger. The guy was a good dancer, and he was pretty handsome from what I could see. We danced for a minute before he twirled me around and into the arms of someone else. I couldn't tell who it was at first but he felt familiar. His blond hair was slicked back and he was wearing a all white suit with a black tie. After a moment it clicked that this was Rufus ShinRa.

"Hello Ms. Mika." he said. "It's nice to meet you at last."

"N-nice to meet you too Sir."I stamered a bit nervously.

"You dont have to be formal with me." he replied with a sly smile on his face. "Just call me Rufus."

"Um, ok Rufus." I said still slightly nervous.

I knew not to mess with him. The Turks would be after me in a second if I did. I knew Reno and possibly Rude and Tsung would hesitate, but they would still obey orders. I would be eliminated in a hurry if I upset him. I had to make sure to leave a good impression.

"I've always been intrested in you." he said. Then he gave a small laugh at the face I must have been making. "Your the first woman to join SOILDER, and you made it to First class in about a year. Reno brags about you alot."

"Well, I guess I'm just lucky. And Reno brags about everything." I replied.

"Well I supose thats true. By the way," he began, he had a slight frown on his face. " I saw Reno's new hairstyle. Was there any reason to shave Reno's head?" We seperated and he twirled me around a few times before pulling me back.

"It was for revenge and he deserved it." I said. Rufus began laughing at my comment.

"Well thats the best from of revenge I've ever seen." he laughed out.

His laughter erased and all the nervousness I felt around him. He felt no worse then Seperoth but I knew better. WIth just a snap of his fingers he could have anyone killed, being the Presidents son and all. Rufus' laugher caused me to start laughing a bit. We must have looked strange to everyone else, dancing around and laughing almost uncontroably. We managed to calm down in time and catch some air as the song ended. The next song started up almost instantly. It sounded more like a samba and had a nice kick to it. Unfortunaly it was still another song that involved exchanging partners and all that.

"One more thing," he said after a minute of dancing. "I arragined for Reno to bring you to meet me, maybe once, twice a week. Since your nearly the talk of the whole town I feel I should get to know you better. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure." I replied happily. There was no way I could pass this up.

"Good I'll arrange the days for us to meet." he said while twirling me around. "Until next time, Mika."

He twirled me again into the arms of another man I didn't know. For the remainder of the song which lasted a full four minutes, I was passed to two more guys. The song ended at the second guy who knelt and kissed my hand. The band decided to take five and give everyone a break. Luckly for me I wasn't to far away from the snack table. I excused myself to get myself a drink, but then a waiter walked by holding out a tray. My partner got us drinks from the passing waiter.

We chated for a minute about the weather of all things, until the music started again. This time it was a slightly slower song, but it still had a samba beat to it. We bowed to each other and began to dance again. We exchanged partners soon afterwards. Once again I went through another two guys before I stopped at my last partner for this song. I ended up in someone else's arms, who I quickly reconized as Zacks. Zack gave me a smile before twirling me around a bit.

"Are you enjoying this party as much as I am?"

"You bet!" I said with a huge smile on my face.

"Dont you wish we came last year?" he asked.

"I wish we did!" I replied. "We really missed out." The two of us danced a bit more before he spoke up again.

"You know we were about to come look for you." he said suddenly out of the blue.

"We?" I asked. "Whose we?"

"Aerith and me." he replied. "We heard you were coming alone and wanted to come find you."

"And 'I', Zack not 'we'." I said lightly hitting him on the head. "And I would have been fine. I'm a big girl now."

"Says the one who cried during the deaths of Mufasa and Bambi's mom." he replied.

Before I could snap back at him he picked me up around the waist. I used my hand to cover the blush on my face as he spinned me around, like all the other girls in the room. So what if I cried? Simba lost his dad in a stampede and thought it was all his fault. Bambi's mom got shot by a hunter. How could you not cry? He set me back down as I glared at him. I would never admit it, but it felt wonderful to have him do that.

"If we weren't surrounded by a bunch of people I'd bite you right now." I almost snapped at him.

"Why?" he asked. He almost looked hurt.

"You cant mock Bambi and Simba." I replied glaring at him.

"Says the one who actully looks like Simba." he replied smirking.

"You son of a b-"

"Now now," he said putting a finger to my lips. "Were surrounded by nice people. No bad language."

I glared back at him through my mask. I was so going to get him back, I just didn't know how yet. Zack and I danced for another minute of this painfully long song before I was twirled yet again. I had to admit that this was the best time of the night for me. Just being with Zack at this moment made it special. Although I had to admit I was tempted to kiss him. After a few moments of dancing Zack spoke up again.

"Don't worry. I'll make you forgive me once you see your present." he replied.

"Present?" I asked. Before I could ask any more I spun me into someone else, who truned out to be Genesis.

We didn't speak, only danced. While we danced, I noticed Kristof hanging from Genesis shoulder. I'm glad he wasn't motion sick, I was afraid he would get sick at any moment though. This is exactly why I gave him to Angeal, I knew he wasn't going to dance anytime soon. He must have switched places with Genesis and Genesis didn't care if he got sick or not. If Kristof did get sick I'd make sure he threw up all over Genesis bed. I noticed that Genesis didn't look to happy after a minute.

"What's the matter?" I asked. His eyes averted till they met mine and he seemed, sad.

"I'm leaving for Wutai." I could see his body tense up a bit as he said it. He obviously wasn't happy about this.

"What for?" I asked

"A war is starting and they want me to lead our troops." he said. "I'll be leaving tomarrow afternoon."

"Why so soon?" I must have sounded desprete(sp?) or had some look on his face because his expression got a bit sadder.

"It's urgent and getting out of hand over there." he replied.

"When did you get this call? And why cant Sepheroth or Angeal go?" I demanded. I wished none of them would have to go. But I knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Angeal still has to train Zack," he replied. "and Sepheroth has to take care of some missions in other places. Since I am no longer training you they saw fit to send me."

"Well when are you coming back?"

"I dont know when I'll be back." he said. "And I dont want you worrying about me."

"Then what will I do while your gone?" I replied sounding irritated. The truth was I really needed him around.

"Last week" he said. "I didn't say anything because I knew you'd be upset." I was upset now. It upset me even more he decided to wait to tell me until it was almost time for him to leave.

"But Genesis-"

"Shhh." he said putting a finger over my lips. "I'll be fine. But there's something I want you to promise me before I leave."

"Fine," I mumbled. "what is it?"

"Before I come back" he started, "I want you to tell Zack you love him."

His face was deadly serious so I knew there was no room for arguement. He always gave me that look when he wanted me to do something and not complain about it. I knew he wouldn't take no for a answer so I had no choice but to agree. He still watched me as we danced, waiting for an answer. I've always loved Genesis like a father, I never had my own. He's always been there to take care of me and guide me. Other then Zack's parents of course and the other villagers of Gongaga.

"I will." I replied quitely.

"Good," he replied giving me a small hug. "I know you feel like you cant tell him now, but I hope you will find a way to say it."

"I'm sure I will." I said. Actully I'm sure I wouldn't be able to tell him. But a promise is a promise.

"Behave yourself." he said. He leaned over to whisper in my ear. "And if anyone ever gives you trouble, remember to grab, twist, and pull." **(this is what my best friend says you should do in case someone tries to rape you.)**

Genesis gave me a smile and a small peck on the forehead before I was handed off to a smirking Leo. Before he let go he put the bag that held Kristof over my head. I managed to catch Genesis dancing with another girl out of the corner of my eye. He must have known I was looking at him because he gave me another smile. He was soon cut out of my line of vision by Leo who twirled me around on time to the music. When I looked back I couldn't see him.

The song ended and we took a quick break. It started back up after a minute and we continued to dance. Somehow Leo and I danced near the edge of the group of people. I caught a glimpse of Sepheroth from just over Leo's shoulder. He held out his hand and took my bag, which contained Kristof. I gave him a smile and a silent thank you before we were swept up by the crowd again.

I looked back towards Leo who gave me a reasurring smile. It was like he was telling me that everything would be alright without saying a word. Leo was always good at that. Somehow Leo's smile did comfort me and I instantly felt better. Because I knew he would be ok. Genesis may only be second comparied to Sepheroth but he could handle himself. But I still hoped my old mentor, and friend, would come back safely.

Leo and I danced for a minute before he passed me over to Slicer. The two of us talked a bit about how things were going before the music stopped again. The band had taken a longer break this time. We took this oppritunity to get some food from the table. We met up with Zack, Aerith and Angeal to chat for a bit. I zoned out of the conversation for a bit and stole a few glances at Zack. I knew what Genesis wanted me to do, but I was too afraid to do it. I had to keep my promise to him no matter what. How was I going to be able to tell Zack that I love him after all this time?

Once the music started up again I dragged Slicer onto the dance floor for one last dance. I noticed he gave Zack this odd look but I ignored it for the time being. The next song went by so fast it was almost a blur. People were constantly bumping into each other. I was nearly breathless at the speed of it. By the time the music stopped both me and Slicer were breathless. The crowd was pressed tightly together making it hard to move.

My body was pressed up tightly against Slicer's. I turned my head to the side to look at him but was met with a different surprise: My lips ended up landed on his. I tried to back up but the crowd ended up pussing me closer to him. To anyone else we would pretty much look like we were making out. I felt a slight blush rise up to my face the same time one came to Slicer's. The look on his face was completely surprised, I hope this wasn't as uncomfortable for him as much as it was for me.

* * *

I knew it was an accident, but I still didn't know how to react. I just couldn't move, and neither could she. I knew my face had to be a beet red even through all the stuff sprayed on my face. We were still surrounded by people and forcably pressed against each other. I caught a two bits of red out of the corner of my eye. The first was Reno, and he looked extremly pissed. The second was Genesis, and he actully looked happy. After another uncomfortable moment the crowd loosened up a bit and we were able to seperate. I glanced back down to Kitty and met her eyes.

She didn't say a word, all she did was give me a small smile like she was ok with it. I opened my mouth to apologize but she put a hand over my mouth. Before I could react she gave me a kiss on the cheek. The two of us ended up letting it go and continued on. After that we spent the rest of the dance talking about all the training we had to do. Once the music ended I managed to talk Kitty into dancing with me one more time.

We danced together, since we no longer had to change partners. Kitty mentioned how Genesis would be leaving for a who knows how long mission. I knew she was upset over him leaving, she almost looked ready to cry. I managed to comfort her and cheer her up before the tears could fall. I've never seen her upset before and I honestly didn't want to her her upset again. Kitty mentioned the way I blushed when we kissed (by accident) and that caused me to blush again.

She also pointed out that I had a mostly blue lipstick kiss mark on my cheek (since the two lipstick colors blended together when she talked.) from her kiss. We both ended up laughing at that. After about an hour of dancing, it was 11 at night and we were tired to keep dancing. We spent the rest of the night chatting with the others and watching everyong else. I still didn't like this Puppy guy, but if Kitty was ok with him, I would be. This had to be one of the best nights of my life.

~~~~ at 12:30 am ~~~~

The party had ended about an half hour ago. Reno had brought us back in his car because we were too tired to walk. In the ride over Kitty had fallen asleep, her head on laying on my shoulder. I'm not sure why but I put my arm around her which caught the attention of Reno. He saw the action from the review mirror but didn't say anything, only gave a small smirk. She was still asleep when he dropped us off at the SOILDER building.

Carefully picking her up bridal style, I carried both her and Kristof up to her room. After a little manurvuring(sp?) I managed to fish out the spare key Kitty gave me a week ago. I walked in a gently placed her and Kristof on the bed before stretching and falling back on it. I was glad I didn't have to train on weekends because I dont think I would have gotten up anytime soon. Kitty had woken up when I hit the bed but Kristof remained asleep.

"When did we get back here?" she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"About a minute ago." I replied.

Kitty sat up and stretched a bit as she yawned. Then she got out of the bed and continued to stretch. After that she started rubbing her arms, feeling the dry body spay that lingered. I sat up to stretch a bit before I got out of the bed. Kristof lifted his head and watched us with a sleepy expression on his little face. He layed his head back down and went to sleep after watching us for a minute.

"I need to wash this stuff off." she said still a little sleepy. "Plus I dont want to ruin this dress."

"Same here." I replied. I stood up again and stretched.

"You can go first then." she said. "This dress will take a moment to take off and to hang it up right."

I just nodded and went over to her closet. After looking through some of her clothes I found two hangers to hang my suit on. I took the hangers into the bathroom with me to change. Any other time I would have been in awe at how large her bathroom was but I was too tired. I could hear the sound of bells through the door, which was most likly Kitty taking off her dress. I blushed and tried to keep the image from entering my mind.

I carefully took off my suit and placed it on the hangers. The back of Kitty's door had hooks which was lucky for me so I had a place to put it. After turning on the water I got into the large tub like shower without waiting for the water to warm up. The cold water woke me up with a jolt and helped make my blush go away. After a minute the sound of bells stopped and I felt even better.

Once the water warmed up, I used some of the scented soap in Kitty's bathroom to wash away the remains of the spray. While I was in the process of scrubbing I heard the door to the bathroom open and close. I'm pretty sure that it was Kitty and that brought the blush back to my face. I tried to ignore it as I finished scrubbing. After about 15 minutes I managed to get the spray off but my hair was still white.

As I exited the bathroom I saw that Kitty left me a pair of sweats and a t-shirt on the large double sink. I was pretty sure the sweats weren't hers because of the size but I put them on anyway. I easily reconized the shirt as hers and put it on. It fit perfectly. I grabbed my suit before I left. As I exited the bathroom Kitty brushed by me and closed the door. I could hear her start up the shower once again while I dried my hair.

I went to her closet and hung my suit up next to her dress. After that I trudged to her bed exauseted. I climbed in and relaxed, waiting for sleep to take over. After about thirty minutes I heard the shower stop and Kitty came out with her hair mostly dry and tied up. I felt the bed dip down as she climbed in, with her back facing mine. She was asleep almost as instantly as she hit the matress.

Before I realized what I was doing I rolled over in the bed to face her back. Automataticly I wrapped my arms around Kitty's torso and held her close. She barely stirred but scooted back a bit so she was almost huddled against me. I could feel a warm feeling rise up in my chest and I smiled. This was the most wonderful thing I think I've ever felt. At that very moment, I really think I loved her. And I was willing to do anything for her.

* * *

**I do realize that there wasn't a lot of talking. Thats because It was more of a ball and dancing type thing so there isnt a lot of speech. So I made their speech while dancing very short. Slicer and Kitty arent too good nicknames but I tried to pick names that are a bit far from thier actual names. ****With Cloud I always yell 'SLICE' when imitating him or being all fangirl about him. Or when he attacks with his giant ass sword of his.**

**Yes this is considered a DATE! Not just a friendly thing between friends. Since they've already kissed and even though it was for a prank(read last chapter) this is considered an actual DATE! No the date was not to make Zack jealous even though it did. Also yes, Mika is still in love with Zack and he still does not know. Neither does Cloud and no Mika does not love Cloud (yet) but she WILL! Yes Cloud is falling in love with Mika even though it's only been like a month and a half. Cloud is however suspicous of Zack because he saw they way Zack looked at her as they entered.**

**I do reliaze that when Cloud was spraying Mika with that bodyspray that it would be diffucult not to get it on her dress. I didn't mention it but he used a thin piece of cardboard to separate the dress from skin. Once he was finished and it dried she just adjusted her dress. Mika also did this for her hair when she spray painted the tips blue.**

**This was most likely posted after halloween but hopefully at least not too far behind. I got the idea for the party from a friend because she's having a masquerade for her birthday party in december. The costume idea i got from watching that Bratz commercial (yes the masquerade one) and from looking at halloween makeup kits at the mall. The mask I saw at a store in the mall called Earthbound. I changed the idea of some of them cause I cant remember how they look exactly.**

**I know this is LONG but last thing is people role over in their sleep so Mika doesn't care if she wakes up and she's all curled up next to Cloud or his arms are all around her. Also the sweats are Zacks. Plus this was written cause I've always wanted to go to/have a masquerade ball. That will happen on my 19th birthday (or prom) cause my 17th was in September and I'm going paint ballin on my 18th. Also Mika called Zack puppy for a reason which will be explained. Important authors note after this. Please read.**


	8. AN: Q&A

**This is a Q&A to answer some of the most asked questions. i will not give out names or give away any detail about who asked the question. These all came from pm or from people i go to school with who somehow figured out my name on here. I will also answer some questions without giving TOO much of the main story away as possible but there WILL be spoilers.**

* * *

_1. How did Mika join SOILDER? I know it's a fanfic but you never went into detail about it._

**I do realize this. I came up with a solution before this question was asked. At first I decided that Mika would tell Cloud how she joined after they started dating. I decided against that because I didn't want my chapters too long just doing a flashback. I estimated it would be about two or three chapters long. I know theres no reason for a whole seperate story just for the prologe(sp?) but I feel like doing it. It will possibly contain tales from when Zack and Mika were kids. Not sure yet but the two or three will be just about her joining.**

_2. Will Mika always avoid Zack? If she loves him she should just accept it._

**No, as you can see in the chapter before the halloween special she talked to him. They are friends again. They dont talk or see each other as often because of missions and him seeing Aerith.**

_3. Why are there so many timeskips?_

**The part I'm at right now is not the real story. It's like a prologe. But instead of putting it with the three chapter prologe I put it as the main story. It's too important too keep it seprate. Now in about three more chapters something REALLY important will happen. It will cause some of the conflict.**

_4. When will Cloud come in? I dont mean to rush you but I cant wait to see him._

**At first I planned on him not coming in till after chapter 10 or so. But I changed my mind cause it's a Cloud love story. If he's not in the first 10 chapters It seems horrible. Plus I love Cloud too so I brought him in early. Although his name isnt mentioned formally, Cloud is 'Slicer'.**

_5. How will this story go? It's kind of confusing._

**I'm planning for 30-35 chpters. The main part of the story doesn't start until after chapter 10. In case you guys didn't know it's like a love triangle. Something bad happens so the conflict can revolve around it.**

_6. What order will it go in? Obviously Crisis Core is first but what will be the order after that?_

**I planned for it to go by Crisis Core to Dirge of Cerberus to the movie. After some research I found out that the movie came before DoC. I will skip the original game for reasons. One is that I have not played the game or seen the gameplay. Second is that Mika will not be around during that time. So the movie will come before DoC.**

_7. Who will Mika meet first? Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie?_

**I assume you mean after the time skip. This is important but i'll give this away. Vincent first, he introduces her to everyone. Cloud is last though she doesn't reconize him. She realizes he's Slicer after many months but very slowly. The next 4 or 5 chapters will be seperating these events.**

_8. Will Mika die? How about Zack and Aerith?_

**No, yes and yes. Unlike the games when Zack and Aerith die Cloud will follow every FF7 fan's advice and USE A FREAKIN PHENIOX DOWN! Mika's death will be faked.**

_9. Why dont they go by thier real names? Why use the nicknames?_

**Well thats kind of giving away the story if I explain. So they have nicknames based on the way they act. Cloud knows who she is right off the bat but she just gave him a nickname. She does not know his real name.**

_10. Your story says it's between Cloud and Zack. Why is that?_

**It's a love triangle.**

_11. Do you have an obsession with wolves? Pretty much all your stories mentions wolves. Does that explain Kristof?_

**Yes, yes I do. Kristof isnt too major in the story but I like it if the characters have pets. It makes them seem more likeable and dangerous to me. Say like if someone had a pet tiger in a story. That shows how strong they are for being able to control a tiger and how dangerous they are. So I use my top five favorite wild animals as pets. Wolves, tigers, panthers/jaguar, coyote, and fox.**

_12. I like Mika's weapon. Did you come up with that yourself?_

**No. I got the idea from Devil May Cry and FFX-2. You know how in DMC you can equip up to four weapons (2 guns and 2 swords) and switch between them? I got te idea from that. In FFX-2 the girls can change their weapons fighting styles clothes etc... The thought of those thing helped me get the idea for her weapon instead of just a plain sword or gun.**

_13. Will there ever be any fights?_

**Yes. i'm not good at fight scenes so they may suck. **

_14. Will Zack and Aerith ever figure out Mika loves Zack? I've been wondering that for a while now._

**Yes but when they find out it will not be plesent. My friend is helping me write the chapter they find out in. I'm not too good at writing naughty scenes either. And I dont want to copy from someone else's story or a book. I would love help with this from anyone who has written a lemon before though.**

_15. When does Mika start to fall for Cloud?_

**After she meets him again.**

_16. I loved the halloween special you did. Will you do more holiday stuff?_

**Christmas, New Years, and Valentines day for sure. If i keep it going that long. I go out of town during Thanksgiving so I wont update around then. I'll have the laptop but will have no privacy to update. The holidays are bonus chapters although they may not be up in time for the holiday.**

_17. I dont mean to sound pushy but when will you update again?_

**Once or twice a month. I know thats not a lot but im in my junior year of high school and it's the busiest year aparently and school comes first. My sister should have warned me. In the summer I can post a bit more often. Besides i dont like posting a chapter until the chapter after it is halfway done. Unless It goes by too long without me posting then I post it ahead of time.**

_18. Did Mika and Cloud go on a date? What about the kiss(es)?_

**Yes the halloween special was a date in both Cloud and Mika's eyes. The first kiss was real even though it was part of a prank. They both considered that their first kiss. They did not plan to kiss the second time though but they both just let it happen. Cloud because he's crusing on her, Mika because she just didn't care at the time and knew the second time was a accident.**

_19. Is she falling in love with Cloud? I mean before she meets him again._

**No. Although she just let him kiss her in the halloween special she only sees him as a friend. I know thats mean of her to lead him on like that but it will get better. She does not know he's crushing on her although there might be hints but she's so blinded by love (kinda shallow atm) she doesn't realize it.**

_20. Why was Zack introduced as Puppy? Why not just call him Zack?_

**Since neither of them have seen each other's faces before they are instant friends. Also not knowing each other's real names helps with their friendship.**

_21. Why shave Reno's head? What happened at the Halloween Ball?_

**It was revenge. He wore a wig that somewhat looked like his hair.**

_22. Why have Genesis read Loveless in the shower? In my opinon that seems like your just making fun of him and making both him and everyone else too OC._

**That was the point. Ever hear of the song 'Moves Like Jagger' by Maroon 5? I listened to that song while I was typing. My friend made her own version of that song and she calls it 'I Got the Moves In the Shower' and I decided I'd have Genesis dance to that in the shower. But then I realized I couldn't come up with a good prank that way (except with a video camera) so I decided: screw with his book. As for the Oc-ness, well I'm working on that.**

_23. Why did Mika burn the posters of her and Cloud? Was she trying to let Zack know she was still avaible or something?_

**Possibly. Most likely out of embaressment. Or she didn't want Zack to go all beserk and think that some random guy raped her.**

_24. I relized that by reading this you dont know Final Fantasy 7 that well. Do you need help with things such as monsters and the places?_

**OMFG YES! I have not played the regular game or Crisis Core (cant find and I dont have a Psp). My Dirge of Cerberus game broke (idk how it just did) so I'm going by the movie mainly. The walkthroughs on Youtube take too long and the wiki page isnt very helpful. I've been using some things from FFx. Sadly that is the ONLY Final Fantasy game i have played and finished. I will accept help from anyone who can!**

_25. I hate Hojo! How could you bring him in?_

**Everyone thinks Sephiroth is the number one bad guy in Final Fantasy 7 but he is not. It's HOJO (in my opinon). He messed up Vincent's relationship with Lucrestia (sp?) and messed her her child. That child was Sephiroth. If you think about it Hojo caused all the bad stuff in Final Fantasy 7 so you cant put all the blame on Sephiroth.**

* * *

**25 questions. That's a lot. I answered the questions asked so far. Any others can be sent through Pm like some of you did do. I mainly did this so people at school can stop inturpting me when i'm trying to READ just to ask questions. Next authors note may be around Christmas. Before then I hope to get to the main part of the story. If not the Christmas special will be a flashback.**

**Next chapter may not be as long and may be rushed because I aiming to get two chapters (plus a chapter from a different story) in before i get out of school for Christmas. That's about four weeks from now but since the next two chapters are SUPER important i need those up so I can get to the main part.**


	9. Last chance

**I'm so sorry I took so long! It's all explained at the bottom. **

**Many thanks to PSYCH0xSEXY for letting me know that I've been spelling Sephiroth's name wrong. Sorry if my authors note gave too much away but I needed a break from the constant messages asking the same thing. Also does anyone know how much time passes between Crisis Core and the movie? I was thinking 7 years. If you know you can just put it in the review.**

**Warning: By the end of this chapter some of you may from this point forward think of Mika (and me) as a bitch. Just saying. Also it's a bit rushed and rating may go down cause i cant write lemons.**

**To the people reading this chapter thank you so much for sticking with me. I will try to get back to updating once a month again... Except for next month. As a special gift to myself, on my birthday (18!) I will try to have a double update for both of my current fanfics. **

* * *

I knew she was after me, ever since I mentioned I got her a present at the ball. The truth was I didn't have a present for her at the time which resulted in me having to go get one. I've been avoiding her until I managed to get her something. I managed to find some materia while I was out on a mission. Unfortunately I had no idea what it did, but I'm sure she would. Mika enjoyed studying things like this. Plus if she didn't like it I got her a giant lollipop.

Mika was very persistent, I'll give her that. She's practically been stalking me for months. She even set up traps to capture me, although most of them failed. Most of them were set off by other people who were completely unaware of what was to come. The others I tested myself by getting caught then breaking out before Mika could show up. I walked in on her raiding my room for said present.

I knew Mika wouldn't give up, nothing comes in between her and presents. Well except maybe watermelons, she has a strong passion for them. I knew she was stalking me right now. I had fallen into another one of her traps just an hour ago and set off an alarm that made her come running. The trap was flawed a bit because I managed to get out. I've been running around avoiding her, but now I'm just too tired. I think her speed makes up for her shortness.

Then again I think she's been stalking me because she missed Genesis. It's only been a week but she acts like it's been months. She's pretty good at hiding her emotions from people. I half expected her to cry at first but instead she set up the traps to capture me. I guess it was just a good way to keep her occupied.

* * *

The target was in my sights. He managed to avoid me for the past few days but I had him now. I even set up traps for him EVERYWHERE. Nets falling from the sky, trap doors, giant cages falling on him once he entered a room, nothing worked. This time he was mine, and he will give me my present.

I had a lot more energy since the Halloween ball. I think they changed the medicine I was taking while I was gone. It didn't leave me sleepy, dizzy or sluggish, or even with a headache or stomach ache like before. Now I just felt, energized, like I was on the greatest sugar rush in the world. The best part about being on the greatest sugar rush ever was that I didn't crash afterward. But that's besides the point.

I knew he would get tired eventually which would give me the opening I needed. All I had to do now was capture him, and if necessary, torture him. Nobody says they're going to give me a present and then gets away without doing it, nobody. Besides Kristof has been keeping watch for me, letting me know when he ever came back. Smart little guy.

I followed the target as he made a turn down the hall. He was dragging his feet along and slouching as he headed towards his room. I continued to stalk him as he made it to his room took out his key to open the door. After opening it he tensed up and put his sword inside the doorway. He waved it around a bit, most likely testing for traps. Seeming satisfied with the lack of traps he went inside with me close behind.

I stopped just outside his door and peaked inside. He was just a few feet away in the center of his room stretching. It was the perfect time to strike, and I took it. I ran in and jumped on his back, earning a squeak of surprise from him. The force of it knocked the two of us to the floor. It ended up with Zack laying on his back and me sitting on his stomach, smiling down at him.

"Hi." I said smirking.

"If you keep sitting on my like this you'll brake your presents." he replied.

"Presents! You got me more then one?" I gasped.

I couldn't help it, I like presents. I jumped off Zack and pulled him up to his feet. Then I began to do little jumps while I waited for him to fish my presents out of his pockets. Ok I was acting like a spoiled brat right now but it was Zack's fault for taunting me. He started this whole brat like behavior of mine when we were kids anyway.

He held out a green and red swirled lollipop about the size of a baseball. On the front of it was a sticker with the word 'WATERMELON' across it in bold letters. It was actually the size of a regular bowl. Next he held out a light blue orb, some type of materia but I wasn't sure what kind. It reminded me of the sky, kinda like Slicer's eyes. I couldn't but help but just stare at it. It was a really nice color. Plus since it was rare and hard to come across, it added to my fascination with it.

"Do you like it?" Zack asked. As a reply I threw myself at him and hugged him tightly.

"YES!" I all but yelled in his ear. Although I did love watermelon and everything that had to do with it, the materia caught my attention the most.

"I was hoping you would. But listen, I have to go now. I'll catch up with you later." he said. With that he turned and walked out of my room waving his hand in salute.

I pealed the plastic off the lollipop and started to lick it absently as I left Zack's room with Kristof close behind. Weaving through the halls and many shortcuts, I made it to my room in just a few minutes. The first thing I did after shutting the door was wander over to my large bookshelf. Most were about monsters along with a few novels. There were also some books about weapons and how to handle them along with some about fighting techniques. Scanning over the books a few minutes I spotted the one I was looking for. It was a thick book about materia, where to find them, and their uses. I never did read the whole thing since the book was sorted by the color of the materia. I only read about the one's I've seen.

Kristof already jumped onto the bed and curled up on one of my pillows. I sat down in the middle with the large book in my lap, the lollipop still in my mouth. Flipping through the pages I came to the blue section. The book had different shades of blue, each one with a photograph or some random scribble of the color. After a few minutes of scanning over the pages I found mine at the very end of the section.

It was a disguise materia, able to make the holder look like anyone they want.**(1)** Even the holder's voice would sound exactly like the original. With the exception of clothes, the holder would look like someone's identical twin. The effects of the materia would last up to three hours. Closing the book I set it aside and laid down on the bed. By now my lollipop was less then half it's original size. I held to materia to my face thinking about what I could do with it. Missions were out, so maybe as a prank? A disguise materia would most likely be used to fool someone else. The question was, who was I going to fool?

Genesis was gone and who knew when I would see him again. Sephiroth can't take a joke and might try to end my life early. Angeal was busy with missions and training Zack, when he wasn't with Aerith that is. The girls were away too, so were Reno and Rude. Slicer was showing off everything he learned from me to make the others jealous. That left Zack since Aerith didn't really get jokes. But who could I disguise myself as to fool him?

There was no way I could be Sephiroth or Angeal. There's something about them that I can't put my finger on, but it just makes them different. So maybe I could be Aerith. She's not hard to imitate, and getting her clothes would be easy. Keeping the real one away would be the problem. I might as well use it at least once before I kick the bucket anyway. Besides I haven't really spent more then a hour with Zack ever since they met. I couldn't help but wonder what he saw Aerith.

Just thinking about them made me burn with jealousy on the inside. There wasn't anymore training, barely any talking, I just missed him being around. I feel like I was just thrown away like trash. Of course with everyone else knowing how I felt about him they were supportive. Even with their support nothing really changed. I should have told him I loved him from the beginning. More importantly, I wish he could love me back. If I had things might have been different.

_'I wish I could switch places with her, just for a few hours. Even if he just looked at me the way he looks at Aerith...'_

My train of thought stopped the moment those words ran through my head. I picked up the materia again and stared at it. An idea slowly started to form piece by little piece. I wanted Zack to love me just as much as I loved him, or to even just spend time with me. He gave me a disguise materia as a gift, and I could use it to disguise myself as Aerith. I would have to figure out a way to keep the real Aerith away, but it could work.

Sitting up I started to chew on the bare stick from the lollipop. Could I really go through with this? The effects of the disguise would only last a few hours, but that would be all the time I need. What would they do if they found out? I knew in a day or two she would have to babysit some kids that live in the slums. It would be the perfect time for me to use it. Even if Zack did or didn't know that she was babysitting there's a chance he might mention it to her. Plus I would have to do something to her phone so she can't call him.

My eyes wandered over to the pill bottle on my nightstand, a constant reminder that my time here was limited. Even though I'm taking them I could still go any day. Memories of the day I passed out and of the ball flashed through my mind. I didn't have a lot of time, but it would my only chance to be with Zack, even if I was pretending to be someone else. He may end up hating me in the end if he found out... it was a chance I was willing to take.

* * *

**A month or so ago**

I quietly managed to enter the building partner hacked the security system so we wouldn't be seen coming in. There was only twenty minutes before it was back online so we had to be quick. We quickly made it outside Mika Yuki-Hana's room in about ten minutes. As my partner picked the lock to her room, I looked around making sure no one as out and about. As soon as I heard the click signaling the door was open I slipped inside. I spotted the pill bottle on her nightstand and made a beeline for it.

Reaching into my pocket I took out an identical bottle. I replaced her's with the one I brought and left the room. Making sure to lock the room again my partner and I managed to make it out with five minutes to spare. Professor Hojo would be pleased to learn that the trade was successful. He's been wanting to find a new live human experiment for some time now. Messing up her mako injection served to be very useful.

The girl was going to die soon, but the Professor didn't want to wait too long for his new test subject. He gave my partner and I a fake bottle of pills then would shorten her life. When it finally takes effect it would make it seam like she's dead, but she'll still be alive. No doctor or any type of machine will be able to detect a pulse or heartbeat. No one would suspect a thing because she's so sick. An old woman managed to make these special pills with a little persuasion.(2) As soon as she started taking them she would feel energized until she drops.

After her memorial a few of his other assistants would sneak in and take her body. Using another type of special medicine or potion the old woman made, the Professor would "revive" her. I'm not sure what all she put in it, but she mentioned something about it helping her survive. I asked her about it when I was alone with her. She wouldn't tell me directly, but I'm sure it had something to do with healing. It should only take a week or two for her to "die".

I do admit I don't like this, but what choice do any of us have? The Professor is crazy enough to use his own child as a experiment. None of us want to see this girl be used as a experiment, but none of us want to take her place. It's bad enough this pour girl has to die a slow and painful death. Now she'll just end up being tortured for who knows how long. If I was in her situation, I would pray for death to come soon.

* * *

**Two days after Mika gets the materia**

Getting a hold of one of Aerith's dresses was the easy part. Keeping her from letting Zack know she was babysitting was the tricky part. Then there was dealing with her phone so she couldn't talk to him. It was much easier then I thought to take it and "accidentally" drop it in a puddle. Keeping Zack away from her was just as easy. He didn't know about Aerith's busted phone, and Angeal has been keeping him busy the past two days. However I knew he was planning to meet Aerith outside of her church.

My plan was simple enough; get to the church before him and activate the materia. I would only have three hours with him, and I was going to make them count. I would have to make up some excuse to leave before my time ran out. I couldn't risk letting anyone else know about this. If anyone else found out they may let it slip by dropping hints. If I could do this and keep Zack from realizing it was me, this plan would be successful.

I had already walked to Aerith's church and was currently waiting on Zack. I was wearing her pink dress and ribbon in my hair, even though it was a bit short. Behind some of the rubble against the wall I hid a bag containing my own genes and t-shirt. The materia was safely hidden inside my arm, ready and waiting. My bike was left at the building, Zack would recognize it anywhere and I'm sure he would hear it. Kristof was also left behind inside Reno's room with food and water. I knew he would be back today so I wasn't worried. I hated leaving him behind but Zack would defiantly suspect something if he saw him.

For the 100th time I started to wonder if this was a good idea. I didn't only love Zack, he was my best friend. The chances of this plan failing were extremely high. There's no telling how he might react if this ends badly. Aerith on the other hand was very forgiving, but everyone has a limit. Before I could give it much more thought, the familiar sound of Zack's bike nearing the church reached my ears. Pulling out a mirror I hid earlier, I activated the materia in my arm and watched as my face blurred and changed into Aerith's.

I touched my face and hair, now looking as long as my cousin's. I really could have passed as her twin. The heavy sound of Zack's footsteps sounded just outside the door. Hiding the mirror away once again I quickly walked over to the flowers and pretended I was tending to them. I became more nervous as his footsteps got closer. I really hoped this wouldn't end badly. When his footsteps stopped directly behind me I slowly started to stand.

Before I could even turn around he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me toward him. His mouth latched onto my neck and he gently bit down. There were going to be marks left behind from this. The next thing I knew the zipper on the back of the dress was being pulled down. Zack never said a word, just continued like it was completely normal. One of his hands traveled up to my chest and started to squeeze. I couldn't stop the soft moan that escaped my lips. Does he always do this when he's with Aerith?

Wait, I didn't want to think about it, it was obvious that he did. I knew they were intimate, but everyday? More importantly I couldn't really go through with this could I? The chances of getting caught have gone up. If I didn't stop him this would end worse then I could ever imagine. Pretending to be Aerith and spending a few hours with him was one thing. Having sex with him in her church was just... wrong.

_'Or is it?'_

This is what I wanted in the first place after all. I wanted him to treat me like he treated Aerith. I wanted him to love me back... But it wouldn't be real. As long as I'm using the disguise materia, only see's me as Aerith. I couldn't live with myself if he ended up hating me. But I also knew I wouldn't get another chance like this. I was dying anyway, even if they broke up it would be too late. Our years of friendship would die with me.

My thoughts were interrupted once I realized that the dress was around my ankles. I could feel Zack's bare chest pressed up against me. One of his hands reached up to my bra and unhooked it. The thought of doing this terrified me, but I wanted to do it. I turned around in his arms to face him. The second his lips touched mine, I knew what I was going to do and what it would mean. Leaning into the kiss, I felt a tear slide down my cheek.

The kiss was better then I thought it would be, but it hurt me even more. After this, I may never see him again at all. I would never get to hold him again, no more seeing his smile or hearing his laugh. I was prepared for all this. Zack would be my first and my only. I wiped the tear away before he could notice and question it. My hand slid down his chest to the zipper on his pants. After today the rest of my life would mean nothing. I would lose my cousin, my best friend, and the man I loved.

* * *

**So the reason it took me so long to update was cause I started writing another story on Quizilla and got sidetracked. Plus I've had a ton of computer problems. But the point is I got so caught up in my new story the past few months I forgot I had stuff here that needed to be updated. Please don't kill me. Although my chapters may not be as long as I like (5,000 words+) they might be much shorter (3,000 words +).**

**Plus i've been looking for a job all summer to no avail. Now school is starting back up and i'm going to be a senior. There will be more days off this year and i only have 4 classes instead of 5. Less school, more time to update.**

**(1)I have no idea what color a disguise materia is so I made it up.**

**(2)The old lady mentioned is the same one that came in when Mika passed out. I wanted her to have a bigger role but it didn't work out the way I wanted it too. Instead she just gives her something special. Think of her as a herbalist, she'll be mentioned a few more times then she's gone.**

**Also I wanted to do a lemon... but i'm terrible at writing them.**


	10. Dead? AN

**This is sooooooo late! Basically I got a job a few days after my birthday so I've been super busy not to mention school graduation, work, just starting college. Plus major computer problems which resulted in not having a computer for pretty much a year. But I continued to write whenever I could at the library and school.**

**But anyway it goes like this; Reno, Zack, surprise guest, Mika. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can, gotta proof read.**

* * *

Rain poured down soaking everyone to the bone. It's been like this for the past week, ever since she was found. Everyone who knew her was here. Some the Seconds and First, the Turks, the director, even the President's son was here. I held Kristof in my arms, trying to shield him the best I could. Even though it was raining, nearly everyone had tears running down their faces. The new recruit she became friends with and danced with at the ball couldn't come. I knew he must have wanted to but he wasn't cleared to. The setting was perfect... well, almost perfect.

Mika's coffin was black made out of some type of granite. Two medium sized flags were draped over it. One was white, with the ShinRa logo on it. The other was black with the gray SOILDER insignia on it. Surrounding it were different types of flowers, all either black or white. Her rod-like weapon was inside the coffin with her. Rain began to pour down with an almost wave like motion as the wind began to blow. The only thing missing, or rather the only person, was Zack.

No one knew why he didn't want to come to Mika's funeral. He was shocked to hear it of course but refused to pay his respects. Angeal tried to change his mind for days to no avail. I wonder if something happened between them before she died. It was too late to find out, with Mika gone and Zack refusing to talk about her I wouldn't know. His girlfriend didn't come either, which was odd since she was Mika's only family. Even stranger that she was found inside the girl's church and she didn't even care. Everyone thought it was odd that her only family couldn't even be there, but ignored it all because she was in morning and attending the funeral would be "too much to bear". I think that's a load of bull and I know something went down. **(1)**

After she was missing for a few hours they decided to track her through her phone. Each member of SOILDER had a GPS tracking chip in their phone. From what I heard Mika was covered in her own blood when they found her. When they got to her she was already dead and couldn't be brought back, no matter how hard they tried. There were no wounds on her, so the doctors figured she coughed it up because of her illness. Everyone was shocked beyond belief that she died so soon. After doing an autopsy, they discovered that she went through a huge amount of stress. Whatever was stressing her out caused her body to react in a bad way and the result was her death. **(2)**

A death like that was hard to forget. When I returned from my mission I nearly broke down crying when I heard the news. The last I saw her she was so happy, even though she was clearly too weak to even walk to her kitchen and back without getting dizzy. I made it to my room just before the tears began to fall. When I got there I noticed her little wolf, Kristof, in my room. Since then I've taken care of him. No one knew what caused her to go into such a huge amount of stress. Because of where her body was found they wanted to question her cousin. Considering that it was her church she became suspect number one. I managed to convince Rufus to give the orders to leave the girl alone. If she wasn't Mika's only family she would have been dragged in for questioning immediately.

None of that really mattered though. She may be dead now but I knew she wouldn't be forgotten. She was still the first girl to ever join SOILDER. Came out on top during the exam to just be officially accepted, even if she had to disguise herself and Zack had to help sneak her in. Hell, Mika skipped being a Third and went straight to Second that very day. She may have gone to join the Lifestream, but at least she wouldn't be in pain anymore. Even if she never got to tell Zack how she felt, at least she would finally be at peace. If only he knew how much she loved him...

* * *

I knew today would be her funeral, but I couldn't go. Aerith knew too, but she didn't go either. I told her everything that happened that day. She was shocked, but mostly heartbroken. Aerith forgave me saying that it wasn't my fault, but it was impossible to figure out where her feelings for Mika now stood. Her death added on to the confusion. Were we supposed to feel sad that she was gone, or angry at what she did? Should we forgive her because she was dying? Or hold a grudge because of her betrayal? Ever since that day back inside the church, I haven't been able to think straight. I've tried not to think about it, but it was too difficult.

_**(Flashback)**_

_I couldn't understand this, how could my best friend do this to me? A disguise materia? I gave it to her, I gave her the tool to do this. My chest hurts; it almost feels like I can't breathe. My best friend..._

"_M-Mika? How could you do this to me? To Aerith?" I yelled at her grabbing my clothes._

"_Zack I-"_

_My best friend betrayed me... Made me betray the girl I love._

"_I thought you were my friend Mika! Why the hell would you do this?"_

_She isn't my friend..._

"_Zack, let me explain-" I didn't wait to hear her answer. As soon as my clothes were on, I stormed towards the doors of the church._

"_I love you, Zack..." I heard her say quietly. I stopped in my tracks, hands almost touching the handles of the doors, but didn't turn around. "I've always loved you, I've should have told you sooner. I'm so sorry Zack." I could hear her voice breaking as she spoke, but I still didn't turn around._

"_So that makes it OK for you to disguise yourself as Aerith?" I turned around and yelled, tears were forming and building up in her eyes, threatening to fall. "To trick me into believing you were her just for a quick fuck? How do you think Aerith, your own family, would react to this when I tell her?"_

"_Zack..." her voice broke even more, I could hear the sadness and pain in her voice, but I didn't care._

"_Aerith is the one and only person I love and care about now. I never want to see you anywhere near me or Aerith. You mean nothing to me Mika, not anymore. You could drop dead right now for all I care. I wouldn't shed a single tear for you." I turned and pushed through the doors letting them bang shut behind me. As I walked away I could hear Mika's sobs. I never turned back._

Maybe I was too harsh. I was upset, but the whole drop dead part was over the top. Especially since she actually WAS going to die. When Angeal first told me about her death, he said that it came on so suddenly because of stress. Stress...

Wait, a huge amount of stress is what caused her sudden death. She was found in Aerith's church, hours after I left her there crying. After she told me she loved me, and I told her she could just drop dead. They estimated her death to be about an hour after the time I left her there.

Then it hit me, it was me. I told her that she meant nothing to me. She could drop dead for all I cared. She told me she loved me, and I pretty much told her I never wanted to see her again. I caused all that stress that killed Mika. Was her death, all my fault? **(3)**

If I had known that stress would end her life so suddenly, I never would have said any of that. Would it have been so hard for me just to listen to her? Would it have been so hard if I had just let her explain why she did this? Everything I told her was out of anger, I knew after some time that I could forgive her for what she did. Everything that I said to Mika was a lie. I even told her I wouldn't shed a tear for her; it looks like that was the only thing that was true. **(4)**

* * *

**Hojo**

The next time I want something done I really should just do it myself. These idiots that I regrettably call my assistants couldn't come up with a faster way to get the girl. Changing her medication may have been easier and safer but it was also a long shot. It wasn't until I yelled at the morons to move things faster did anything really got done.

A special type of drug was slipped into her medication, a kind that with a side effect that fakes death. The heart will appear to stop beating and it will appear that the person isn't breathing. Unless you've used the drug before or know specifically how to test for it in the bloodstream, no one would even know its there. Plus considering that this drug is my own creation, I am the only one who knows how to look for it. The subject however will have some sense of what's going on. Their hearing and sight won't be up to par but they can still feel things that are happening to them. Of course once the medicine went into effect the subject would be in an unbearable amount of pain, but they would still survive and that's all that mattered to me.

I had to wait nearly four months for this test subject. A few months prior to this however I discovered something very interesting. While looking into some old notes a found something new, but it was hidden in some kind of code. After another month of doing nothing but trying to decipher the code I found it. Someone or something that was somehow related to one of my other, older experiments.

After I made this discovery I realized that I had to somehow turn this old legend into a reality **(hint hint)**. I spent weeks trying to find the perfect test subject. All had failed. I even went as far as to send out fake mission reports and kidnap other SOILDERS to try my experiments on. It wasn't until I heard about a ShinRa SOILDER who was close to death that I realized that she would be perfect.

Somehow the amount of mako in the other SOILDERS reacted in a bad way when I tried to test out my experiment. Those few who never had any mako in their system never lasted more than a few hours. This SOILDER however didn't have the required amount of mako in her system. To be honest I highly doubted that she would last for very long and only gave her a little over half the required amount. That proved to be a mistake on my part. Considering her situation she should be an interesting and worthy test subject for my experiment. But of course there is always a drawback.

Unfortunately I was not able to switch out her body with someone else's before they buried her. As I was preparing for the experiment, four of my assistants came struggling through the door carrying the girl's coffin. Once they made it through the door they set the coffin down in the middle of my lab. Needless to say they tracked mud all over my clean floor. One of them used a crowbar to pry open the coffin; a loud pop sounded once it was off. Each assistant took an arm or a leg and lifted the girl out of the coffin and carried her to my lab table.

The drug that had faked her death wouldn't wear off for another few hours. I wouldn't have to sedate her for a while. As they hooked her up to a special heart monitor that would be able to find her heartbeat and strapped her down I filled a syringe with a combination of different things. The same things I used for my older experiment. It was time to start; picking up a syringe I walked over to the lab table. I stuck the needle into the girl's arm and emptied the contents of the syringe. As soon as I did the heart monitors went off the charts. None of my test subjects reacted like this, I needed to record it immediately.

* * *

**Mika**

Pain was the only thing I could feel. After Zack left the church I just stood there, heartbroken and ashamed of myself. He was right and I knew it, but I was too selfish to think about how he might feel about it. How Aerith might feel. Silently I got dressed as tears still poured down my face. I sat on one of the pews of the church just thinking, no, regretting what I had just done. Neither Zack nor Aerith would forgive me for this. The minutes slowly turned into an hour, I knew one of them would be back soon. And I wasn't ready to face either of them. Wiping my tears away the best I could I stood and headed toward the doors of the church, still slightly in pain from Zack and I did earlier.

I started to cough, the pain in my chest started to increase tenfold. It was becoming hard to breathe. When I pulled my hand away I saw that my entire palm was covered in blood. I didn't have much time to react before another coughing fit hit me. I closed my eyes as I was hit with more pain, more blood, and less air being taken in. My lungs aced from the lack of air and the constant coughing. Everything felt like it was caught in my throat as I vomited a large amount of what I knew had to be more blood blood. My legs wobbled beneath me and I fell to my knees. When I opened my eyes I discovered that I was right; my clothes almost looked like they were drenched in blood. My blood.

More coughing fits hit me, I wasn't sure how much time had passed or when I went from my hands and knees to lying on my stomach. I tried to force myself to get up, only to fail. I felt lightheaded and my vision was blurry. All I could make out was a figure standing near the doors. The figure made its way towards me but it didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. At least I couldn't tell. The pain in my chest was so unbearable it hurt even to take in the little amount of air I desperately needed.

I felt something touch my forehead and turn my body over so I was lying on my back. I tried to get a look at whoever it was but I couldn't make out anything. I coughed a bit more and felt small drops of blood fall onto my chin and cheeks. The soft sound of someone's voice came to my ears but I couldn't make out any words. The pain in my chest slowly lessened, but it never went away. Whoever was touching my forehead sounded like they were, chanting? I tried to get in one last breathe before… nothing.

xXxXx

The next thing I knew it felt like I was being dropped. I couldn't move and had no idea what had happened or where I was. My chest lung and throat burned terribly, it was a little hard to breathe. After a minute or two I felt a rush of cool air hit my face. I wanted to open my eyes and see what had happened, but my eyelids didn't want to open. It almost felt like there was something on my arms and legs, but I could barely feel it. Something slightly cold was underneath me. I tried to move my arms, my legs, anything, but soon discovered that I couldn't do it.

Then out of nowhere I felt a burning pain appear. With each passing second it felt like I was being lit on fire, only from the inside out. I thought I could feel tears starting to brim in my eyes but I couldn't tell. I wanted to scream, jump up and run, to do something, anything. The pain only seemed to increase as time went by. I could tell something bad going on. I had a feeling something bad would happen to me. I wasn't sure what it was but I didn't like it one bit.

* * *

**1. Yes, Reno knows something had to have happened, even if no one will tell him what it was. He's a smart Reno.**

**2. I have no idea if it's possible that someone with lung cancer can die like that. I did read that it was possible for someone with this disease to cough up blood though and in my mind, Mika's death has to be tragic, but has to be related to a real disease. No idea if stress can cause that or not but let's just go with it.**

**3. Zack starts to wonder if he caused her death... In real life, this most likely will not cause someone to die like THAT just because of stress. But in my imagination, and since this is a fanfic and set in the Final Fantasy world, anything is possible.**

**4. Yes that seems heartless that Zack realizes he was most likely the one to cause Mika to suffer through all that stress and in the end caused her death and he doesn't even cry about it. He will but it won't be mentioned till the next chapter, maybe.**

**I try to not to make so many notes but when my friends proof read this and they have questions I get the feeling others will too. If I have any new readers, thank you so much for reading! Obviously the first two or three chapters have to be rewritten because it's just so off. But I will work on those later so I can get some more chapters up. Chapters will be shorter than usual because I don't have as much time to write as I usually do.**

**I will also be writing a short little thing about Mika taking the exam to get accepted into ShinRa which I mentioned in an earlier chapter, but now I think instead of making it into a separate mini story of its own I would combine the would be three or four chapters into one big one, throw it in here and make it a flashback. What do you guys think? Review or pm me to let me know what you guys think because I'm torn between the two!**


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